Jane Corwin, Republican Party nominee for U.S. House in today’s special election in New York state, has obtained a court order, barring the votes from being certified until a state court judge holds a hearing about the election. See this story. Thanks to Rick Hasen for this news. This action seems very strange, since it is not apparent that anyone has complained about any problems with the conduct of the election.
On May 20, Kansas HB 2080 was sent to the Governor. It cancels the 2012 presidential primary, in order to save money. The Governor is expected to sign it.
The Georgia Secretary of State has an Elections Advisory Council, which is holding public meetings around the state to hear ideas for improving Georgia election laws. The second such meeting is Wednesday, May 25, in Savannah, at 1 pm, at the Savannah Marriott Riverfront Hotel, 100 General McIntosh Boulevard.
At the first meeting, in Atlanta, on April 27, many people spoke in favor of easing the ballot access laws.
Nevada AB 81 has been amended to provide that petitions for a new party must be completed by April of an election year. Current law requires these petitions to be completed by May. AB 81 is one of the Secretary of State’s omnibus election law bills. It has passed the Assembly and the Senate Legislative Operations and Elections Committee, and will probably receive a vote in the Senate in two days.
In 1986 a U.S. District Court struck down Nevada’s old April petition deadline for new parties. That case was Libertarian Party of Nevada v Swackhamer, 638 F.Supp. 565. At the time, Nevada required newly-qualifying parties to nominate by primary. Ever since 1987, Nevada has provided that newly-qualifying parties nominate by convention, so moving the petition deadline back to April is supremely irrational. The bill says the deadline to turn the signatures in to the Secretary of State will be in May. However, another law, not being amended by AB 81, says that the true deadine is 25 working days before deadline for the Secretary of State to receive the signatures, so the effective deadline imposed by the bill is April. Thanks to Janine Hansen for this news.
On May 24, the Maine Senate passed LD 142 by a vote of 21-14. The bill is now through the legislature. It eases the requirement that a qualified party must hold a town caucus within every county, during spring of even-numbered years. Instead, such caucuses would be required in any 14 of the state’s 16 counties.
