On April 17, a lower state court heard oral arguments in the lawsuit over Florida’s U.S. House districts. See this story for a description of the arguments on both sides.
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The Richmond Times-Dispatch has this editorial, commenting on Governor Bob McDonnell’s requests to the Virginia legislature to alter certain bills that the legislature earlier sent to him. At the end of the editorial, the writer criticizes McDonnell for suggesting that HB 1151 be altered.
HB 1151 passed the legislature unanimously. It said that when U.S. House redistricting is late (as it was this year), ballot access petitions are valid whether they use the old districts or the new districts. The Governor suggested to the legislature that the effective date of the bill be postponed. The legislature had passed it as an urgency bill, to take effect immediately. The Governor wants it effective next year, and also wants presidential petitions to be excluded. The Libertarian Party and the Green Party have already been circulating their presidential petitions, which must contain 400 signatures from each U.S. House district, and if the legislature amends the bill as the Governor wants, those signatures will be wasted. Thanks to Bill Van Allen for the link.
The Roanoke Times has this story about former Virginia Congressman Virgil Goode. It focuses on the upcoming Constitution Party national convention, and says Goode may very well be the Constitution Party’s presidential nominee.
Goode spent 24 years in the Virginia legislature, and then was elected to Congress as a Democrat in 1996. In 2000 he was re-elected as an independent candidate. In 2002 he was re-elected as a Republican. He served until 2008, when he was defeated for re-election by only 727 votes.
On April 17, Arizona held a primary election for the Democratic, Republican, and Green Parties, so that each of these parties could choose a nominee for U.S. House, 8th district. The special election will be June 12.
The Green Party primary ballot contained one name, Charlie Manolakis. Preliminary results show he polled 113 votes. He had one declared write-in opponent, Richard Grayson, who polled 19 votes. However, preliminary election returns are not always accurate for write-in returns.
Connecticut holds its presidential primary on April 24, and Pennsylvania holds its primary for president and all other partisan office on the same day. The various minor parties that are petitioning in those states will make special efforts to have lots of petitioners stationed near polling places on April 24. Petitioning outside polling places is generally very fruitful. Virtually everyone on the scene is a registered voter, and frequently people must wait in line and thus are more likely to be receptive. Many states do not permit petitioning within 100 feet of the entrance to a polling place, but this restriction is generally not so severe as to interfere with all petitioning.
Connecticut and Pennsylvania election laws permit stand-in presidential candidates on petitions.