On May 10, Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin signed HB 1615. It moves the primary (for office other than President) from July to June, and it moves the petition deadline for a new party from May 1 to March 1.
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On May 10, the Delaware Senate passed HB 11, which tells parties that they cannot nominate non-members. The vote was 16-2. Delaware legislators seem to have little awareness that the U.S. Supreme Court said in 1986 in Tashjian v Republican Party of Connecticut that it would violate the First Amendment freedom of association clause for a state to tell a party that it can’t nominate a non-member. Also, on March 31, 2011, a U.S. District Court in New Mexico struck down New Mexico’s law that tells parties they can’t nominate non-members.
The two Senators who voted “No” are both Democrats. They are George Bunting and Robert Venables.
On May 10, the California Court of Appeals heard 30 minutes of argument in Ni v Slocum, A128721. This is the case over whether electronic signatures can ever be considered valid on California initiative and referendum petitions. This story was written before the hearing and explains more about the case. At the hearing, the three judges seemed to show a reluctance to grapple with the technical issues, and seemed to believe that the matter is too complicated for the judicial branch, and that it is best left to the legislative branch.
According to this story, the U.S. District Court Judge who has the case over whether Carl Lewis should be on the Democratic primary ballot of June 7, 2011 (for State Senate, 8th district) may rely on a federal jury to decide the issue. This makes it appear that the court is still pondering whether or not Lewis meets the 4-year in-state residency requirement, as opposed to deciding whether the 4-year residency requirement violates the U.S. Constitution. This is peculiar, because the state courts have already decided that Lewis has not been a resident of New Jersey during the last four years.
UPDATE: see this story about the court hearing.
Gallup periodically asks Americans if they favor the creation of a major new political party. Gallup has just released this poll again, for the first time since August 2010. See here for the results. Thanks to Political Wire for the link.