On April 24, a bill was introduced in the New York Assembly to provide for public funding for candidates for state office. See this story.
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According to this story in The Hill, Ron Paul has more delegates in Minnesota than any other Republican presidential candidate, and will likely have a majority of the delegation. Paul also seems to have exactly half of the Iowa delegation.
Both states depend on caucuses (not presidential primaries), and the process of determining the final delegation takes months of successive rounds of conventions at various levels.
Charlie Summers, the Secretary of State of Maine, is seen in this 27-second you tube clip condemning public funding of elections. He characterizes public funding as “money is just handed to the candidate.” Actually it is a lot of work for candidates to qualify for public funding in Maine and generally.
In Maine, the voters do not elect the Secretary of State. The legislature appoints the Secretary of State. Thanks to Alex Hammer for the link.
On April 24, 1980, John B. Anderson declared that he would seek the presidency as an independent candidate. He subsequently placed his name on the ballot in all 50 states in November, even though he had already had his name on the ballot, or was about to have his name on the ballot, in two-thirds of the Republican presidential primaries of 1980.
This anniversary, exactly 32 years ago today, shows that candidates can enter the general election for president relatively late in the season, and can get on the ballot in all states. When Anderson declared, the case law regarding deadlines for independent presidential petitions was not nearly as good as it is today.
The Yankton Daily Press & Dakotan has this editorial, expressing happiness that South Dakota now has five qualified parties on the ballot. The editorial does not say, but it could have said, that this is the most number of qualified parties in South Dakota since 1914. Between 1939 and 1984, South Dakota required a petition of 10% of the last gubernatorial vote for a new party to get on the ballot. No group ever managed to cope with that requirement, which was held unconstitutional in a Libertarian Party lawsuit in 1984. After that lawsuit, the legislature lowered the petition to 2.5% of the last gubernatorial vote.
Parties that are not ballot-qualified in South Dakota still have the option to place their presidential nominees on the ballot with a petition of 1% of the last gubernatorial vote, due in August.