Michigan holds its non-presidential primary on August 7. Candidates in major party primaries need 1,000 signatures to run for U.S. House. Republican Congressman Thaddeus McCotter, who has been in Congress starting in 2002, appears not to have submitted enough valid signatures. See this story, which says he submitted approximately 2,000. The story does not explain why he would have had such a low validity rate. Michigan does not have registration by party, so any registered voter is eligible to sign.

McCotter is a Republican. The 11th district includes the western suburbs of Detroit. Michigan permits write-in votes in primaries, but no one can be nominated who does not have a number of write-ins equal to 15% of the number of people who vote in that primary. A lesser-known Republican did get on the primary ballot, but the story suggests the Michigan Republican Party may recruit a write-in candidate in the primary, which could be McCotter himself. Thanks to Jeff Becker for the link.

On May 25, John Wolfe, Jr., filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court against the Arkansas Democratic Party for refusing to let him choose any delegates to the Democratic national convention. Wolfe polled 42% of the vote in the May 22 presidential primary, with President Obama polling the other 58%. Under the state party rules, he should be entitled to some delegates. But the state party says he should have chosen candidates for delegate before the primary. The case is Wolfe v Arkansas Democratic Party, 4:12cv-314. It was assigned to Judge James M. Moody, a Clinton appointee.

Wolfe is serving as his own attorney, and he says he plans to sue the Louisiana Democratic Party also, in the near future. He got enough popular votes in the Louisiana primary to receive some delegates, but the Louisiana Democratic Party also refuses to let him have any delegates. See this story. Thanks to Andy Hogue for the link.

Current Ohio law requires all ballot-qualified parties to certify the names of their presidential and vice-presidential nominees no later than August 8. The Democratic and Republican Parties will not hold their national conventions until several weeks after that date. HB 509 had been expected to pass the Senate on May 24. It says those two parties (but no others) may have until September 7 to make the certifications. The bill has an urgency clause and only pertains to the 2012 election.

For some reason, on May 24, the Ohio Senate decided not to vote on this bill that day. The Senate won’t be in session again until June 5. Assuming the bill passes the Senate on June 5, then it must pass the House. The original bill that already passed the House did not have the election law amendment, so the House needs to re-approve the entire bill after it passes the Senate. The original bill is not an election law bill and concerns venereal disease and other unrelated subjects.