On April 6, Idaho HB 351 passed both houses of the legislature. It lets parties decide for themselves whether to let all voters vote in their primary, or just independents plus party members, or just party members. The bill also sets up a system whereby voters can register as a member of a party, either on voter registration forms or at the May 2012 primary voting location.
The vote in the House was 51-16; the vote in the Senate was 28-7.
On April 7, the Oklahoma House Rules Committee passed SB 808. This is the bill that moves the Oklahoma presidential primary from February to March. It had already passed the Senate. The Oklahoma presidential primary is separate from the state’s primary for other office, and the dates of the Oklahoma presidential primary have no bearing on deadlines to put new parties or independent presidential candidate on the November ballot.
On April 7, the Oklahoma Senate passed HB 1615 unanimously. This is the bill that moves the non-presidential primary from July to June. It also moves the petition deadline for a new or minor party from May 1 to March 1.
Petition deadlines that early for new parties are unconstitutional. The cases that support this conclusion are unanimous:
1. New Alliance Party of Alabama v Hand, 933 F.2d 1568 (11th circuit). April was too early.
2. Sigler v McAlpine, Alaska superior court, 3rd dist., 3AN-88-8695. June was too early.
3. American Party of Arkansas v Jernigan, 424 F.Supp. 943 (1977). March was too early.
4. Warrick v Condre, US Dist Ct, sou. dist. of Indiana, IP-83-810-C. February was too early.
5. Libertarian Party of Kentucky v Ehrler, 776 F.Supp 1200 (east. dist. 1991). February was too early.
6. Stoddard v Quinn, 593 F.Supp 300 (Maine, US Dist Ct, 1984). April was too early.
7. Bradley v Mandel, 449 F.Supp 983 (U.S. Dist. Ct., Maryland, 1978). March was too early.
8. Serrette v Connolly, Suffolk Superior Court, 68172, Massachusetts, 1985. May was too early.
9. MacBride v Exon, 558 F.2d 443 (8th circuit 1977, Nebraska). February was too early.
10. Libertarian Party of Nevada v Swackhamer, 638 F.Supp 565 (1986). April was too early.
11. Council of Alternative Political Parties v Hooks, 121 F.3d 876 (3rd cir., New Jersey, 1997). April was too early.
12. Libertarian Party of Ohio v Blackwell, 462 F.3d 579 (6th circuit 2006). November of the year before the election was too early.
13. Libertarian Party of Pennsylvania v Davis, U.S. Dist. Ct., middle dist, Pa., 84-0262. May was too early.
14. Libertarian Party of South Dakota v Kundert, U.S. Dist. Ct, civ-83-3071. February was too early.
15. Libertarian Party of Tennessee v Goins, U.S. Dist. Ct., mid. dist., Tennessee, 3:08-63, not reported yet. March was too early.
Attempts are being made to communicate this information to Oklahoma legislators. The bill to lower the number of signatures for new and minor parties, HB 1058, has passed the House, but it has not made any headway so far in the Senate.
The Tennessee Senate had been scheduled to vote on SB 935 on April 7, but the vote has been postponed until April 14. The is the bill that makes miniscule improvements to the state’s procedure for ballot access for new and minor parties. The existing law is void because it was held unconstitutional last year.
California Assemblymember Ben Hueso has amended AB 651. The bill no longer requires initiative, referendum, and recall petition circulators to wear badges that say the name of the circulator’s employer. However, the bill still requires employers of circulators to register with the Secretary of State, pay an annual fee, and provide the Secretary of State with copies of the instructions for circulators. Thanks to Mark Seidenberg for this news.
