On August 13, the Colorado Senate passed SB 189, which moves the primary from the second Tuesday in August to the last Tuesday in June. The bill has no effect on deadlines to qualify independent candidates or minor parties. Thanks to Frontloading HQ for this news.
Colorado doesn’t have a presidential primary; instead it uses caucuses.
On April 13, Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer, a Democrat, vetoed HB 180. That bill ended Montana’s law allowing voters to register at the polls on election day. Thanks to Mike Fellows for this news.
The Governor vetoed 17 bills, very dramatically, as this news story shows.
On April 11, Idaho Governor Butch Otter signed HB 275, the Secretary of State’s omnibus election law bill. Among other changes, it makes two ballot access improvements. It lowers the number of signatures for an independent presidential candidate from 1% of the last vote cast (6,552 signatures) to exactly 1,000 signatures. Also, it says out-of-state residents may work on an independent presidential candidate petition.
Idaho is the third state that has improved its ballot access laws for independent candidates or minor parties so far this year; the others are New Mexico and Nebraska.
The Idaho change will probably help the Green Party, which has never before placed its presidential nominee on the Idaho ballot. It seems extremely likely that the Green Party will be able to handle the new, easier independent procedure for whomever it nominates for President in 2012. The change will have no direct impact on the Libertarian or Constitution Parties, because they are already ballot-qualified parties in Idaho.
Oak Lawn, Illinois, held an election on April 5 for Village Board Trustee. Unofficial tallies show that it is plausible that a write-in candidate may have defeated the only candidate whose name was printed on the ballot. The unofficial tallies show 730 votes for the write-in candidate, Dan Sodaro, and 738 votes for the candidate whose name was on the ballot. The write-in candidate had intended to be on the ballot, but his opponent had challenged his petition. See this story. The election board is about to start the official canvass.
On April 12, the California Assembly Elections Committee passed AB 459. This is the National Popular Vote Plan bill. It also gained some Republican co-sponsors. Thanks to Pete Martineau for this news. The vote was 5-1.
The Committee also passed two bills that legalize write-in votes when the voter forgot, or didn’t know, to “X” the box next to the name written in. These votes would only be counted, however, if the election involving the write-in candidate is very close, and there is a possibility that the write-in candidate might have won, if these votes were counted. These bills are AB 461 and AB 503.
Ironically, both the National Popular Vote Plan bill, and the write-ins bills, had been passed by previous sessions of the legislature, but both ideas had been vetoed by former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
The committee also passed AB 481, which requires people who are circulating an initiative, referendum or recall petition to wear badges, telling if they are being paid or if they are volunteers.
