New California Registration Data

Posted on by April 20, 2012
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The California Secretary of State has released a voter registration tally, showing totals for each party as of April 6, 2012. Compared to the last tally (the January 3, 2012 tally), the only parties that increased their registration are the American Independent Party, the Peace & Freedom Party, and the Constitution Party (which is not ballot-qualified). Figures are not available for the Reform Party or the Justice Party because those two parties did not re-file their request for a tally in time to be included in this Report.

Democrats declined from 43.63% to 43.49%. Republicans declined from 30.36% to 30.31%. The American Independent Party increased from 2.52% to 2.53%. The Green Party declined from .654% to .648%. The Libertarian Party declined from .548% to .547%. The Peace & Freedom Party increased from .347% to .349%. Americans Elect has such small registration, percentages are meaningless, but it went from 3,165 registrants to 3,104. The Constitution Party went from 121 registrants to 234 registrants. Independent voters went from 21.24% to 21.31%. Members of other parties (all of them unqualified) went from .68% to .81%. Here is a link to the Secretary of State’s web page for the complete report.

Newspaper Stories on Constitution Party Presidential Convention

Posted on by April 20, 2012
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The Martinsville, Virginia Bulletin has this story about the ongoing Constitution Party presidential convention in Nashville. The story focuses on former Congressman Virgil Goode, because Goode in the recent past represented Martinsville, although the city was on the border of the district.

The Spokane Spokesman-Review has this story about the convention. This story focuses on Laurie Roth, who is also seeking the presidential nomination. Roth lives in the part of Washington state covered by this newspaper.

Only Five Candidates Successfully Qualify for New Jersey Major Party Presidential Primaries

Posted on by April 20, 2012
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New Jersey holds presidential primaries for the Republican and Democratic Parties on June 5. Presidential candidates need 1,000 signatures to appear.

The Republican ballot will include Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul, Mitt Romney, and Rick Santorum. The Democratic ballot will include only President Obama. Randall Terry submitted 1,765 signatures to be on the Democratic Party presidential primary, but some of his signatures were rejected because the circulator is not a registered Democrat. When his petitions circulated by non-Democrats were set aside, that left him with only 1,080 signatures. Then, his petition was challenged, and more invalid signatures were found.

Although courts have struck down residency requirements for circulators, no court has yet struck down a state law that says primary petitions can only be circulated by members of that party. Thanks to William Fenwick for this news.

California Secretary of State Brief Defends Her Decision Not to List Peta Lindsay on Peace & Freedom Presidential Primary Ballot

Posted on by April 19, 2012
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Here is the California Secretary of State’s brief in Lindsay and Peace & Freedom Party v Bowen, 2:12-cv-853. This is the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in which the Peta Lindsay campaign and the Peace & Freedom Party challenge the Secretary of State’s refusal to list Peta Lindsay on the party’s presidential primary ballot.

Nowhere does the brief acknowledge that the PFP presidential primary is a “beauty contest”, not an election for public office. The purpose of the PFP presidential primary is to allow the party’s rank-and-file members to express themselves about whom the party should nominate for President. If the party were to nominate Lindsay, the Secretary of State would be forced to print her name on the November ballot. The State Court of Appeals already ruled in Keyes v Bowen, 189 Cal App 4th 647 (2010), “With respect to general elections, section 6901 directs that the Secretary of State must place on the ballot the names of the several political parties’ candidates.” The word “must” is in italics.

If the Peace & Freedom Party has a right to place a presidential candidate on the November ballot who is under the age of 35, it is difficult to understand why the party doesn’t have a right to place that same presidential candidate on its own primary ballot.

The Secretary’s brief says she follows the Constitution, yet in fact, she does not follow the California Constitution, which contains a one-year duration of residency requirement for candidates for the legislature. The Secretary of State ignores this constitutional provision. She has also told other courts, in lawsuits over whether she should investigate the qualifications of President Obama, that she has no duty to conduct such an investigation.