On April 13, the Alaska House passed SB 31, the bill that confirms that write-in votes are not necessarily invalid just because the voter misspelled the candidate’s name. The bill had already passed the Senate. The bill does not actually change policy, because last year Alaska state courts interpreted the old law to encompass this policy. However, the bill makes the law clearer.
On April 14, the Missouri House Elections Committee added the provisions of HB 796 into an omnibus election law bill, SB 282, and passed the bill. Now the bill goes to the House floor. The Secretary of State supports the bill.
HB 796’s provisions repair a flaw in the state’s petition procedure for a new party to get on the ballot. In Missouri, as in most states, a previously unqualified party gets on the ballot by submitting a petition that does not carry the names of any candidates. If the petition is approved, then the party nominates its candidates. This is usually referred to as a “party petition”. Most states have procedures for a party petition, but some states do not.
The problem in Missouri is that the party petition law has a drafting error, which requires the petitioning party to list the candidate for president and presidential elector on the petition (if that party intends to nominate a presidential candidate), even though none of the group’s other nominees need to be listed. This was contrary to the intent of the law, but for almost 18 years, bills to fix this problem have failed to pass. Thanks to Ken Bush for this news.
The Oklahoman, the largest newspaper in Oklahoma, has this story on the troubles that have befallen the ballot access bill, HB 1058. The bill easily passed the House last month, but stalled in the Senate after the state chair of the Republican Party, Matt Pinnell, asked the Chair of the Senate Rules Committee not to let the bill onto the Senate floor.
Pinnell is 31 years old and has only been state chair of the Republican Party for eight months. He says the situation in Oklahoma is “not broken.” Oklahomans have not been permitted to vote for anyone for President, other than the Democratic and Republican nominees, for either of the last two presidential elections. There is no other instance in any other state in the last 35 years, for which this statement is true for even a single presidential election. For all presidential elections 1976 through 2008, there is no instance outside of Oklahoma in which any state has had a Democratic-Republican monopoly for president combined with a ban on write-in voting. And, even setting aside the write-in issue, one must look all the way back to 1984 to find an instance when any state, other than Oklahoma, had a Democratic-Republican monopoly on the ballot for President.
If anyone wishes to politely communicate any thoughts about this to Matt Pinnell, his work phone at the Republican Party headquarters is 405-528-3501. The fax at that office is 405-521-9531.
On April 13, the Arizona Senate passed HB 2177 by a vote of 20-9. This bill requires that birth certificates for presidential candidates be submitted. It must now return to the House, because when it passed the House, it concerned an entirely different subject.
Cindy Sheehan is currently on a nationwide speaking tour. There have been thought that she might run for President in 2012, perhaps as the nominee of the Socialist Party and perhaps other parties. See here for the schedule.
