On February 6, a Harrisburg, Pennsylvania jury convicted State Representative H. William DeWeese of using state resources to work on partisan political activity during the period 2000-2006. DeWeese was in the Democratic leadership in the House during those years. He directed staff to use government employees and government computers to help challenge the 2004 petition of Ralph Nader, and the 2006 statewide Green Party petition. See this story. DeWeese is currently in the legislature, and has been a state legislator since he was elected in a special election in May, 1976.

It is possible this conviction will have some relevance to Ralph Nader’s pending lawsuit against the Democratic National Committee and its allies, over what was done by Democrats to Nader ballot access efforts in 2004. The Maine Supreme Court is still considering Nader’s lawsuit. Also a District of Columbia appeals court is still considering whether to force a Washington, D.C. bank to turn over Nader’s funds to his Democratic 2004 challengers.

Over the weekend, the Oregon Republican Party decided to let independent voters vote in its 2012 primary, but only for the three statewide state offices. Oregon has no U.S. Senate race up in 2012, but it has these statewide offices: Attorney General, Treasurer, and Secretary of State. See this story. The party says it is an experiment and it will see how it works before possibly opening up its primary later for district and county partisan offices.

The party says the presidential primary will not be open to independent voters in 2012. Although the story seems to say that the Republican National Committee won’t allow the state party to do that, it seems more likely that the Republican National Committee only has a rule that says it is too late to change the rules for presidential primaries in 2012, not that the national Republican Party has a rule in general against open presidential primaries. There are many Republican presidential primaries open to independent voters, all across the nation.

On February 6, Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp’s Elections Advisory Commission issued its ideas for improving election laws. The Report is here. The Report suggests lowering the number of signatures for minor party and independent candidate petitions somewhat. Existing law says statewide petitions need signatures of 1% of the number of registered voters, and district and county petitions need 5% of the number of registered voters. The Report suggests keeping the same percentages, but changing the base from the number of registered voters, to the number of votes cast in the last presidential election.

If that recommendation were in force now, Georgia would require 39,245 signatures for statewide office this year instead of 50,334 (for new parties) and 51,845 (for independent presidential candidates). For a U.S. House race, in the average district, the number of signatures would decline from 18,516 signatures to 14,016. This would leave Georgia with the second-highest requirements for U.S. House, and North Carolina would then be the most difficult for U.S. House.

The Report also recommends expanding the petition exception for incumbents who first won as an independent or minor party candidate. Currently, the law says independent or minor party incumbents who submitted the petition the first time they ran, and who got elected, don’t need to petition if they run for re-election. That kindly exception is no help for incumbents who first got elected as independent or minor party candidates in special elections. No candidate ever needs a petition in a special election. So, the law would be tweaked to include independent and minor party incumbents who first got elected in a special election. The legislature’s only independent incumbent, Rusty Kidd, would benefit this year if this change were made.

The Report also covers issues other than ballot access. It recommends letting incarcerated persons who have not yet been convicted receive absentee ballots, regardless of whether they are in jail in their home county or another county. Currently, the law only allows absentee ballots to be sent if the person is in jail in a county other than his or her home county. The Report recommends letting the absentee ballot be mailed, regardless of where the jail is. The ACLU has been suing Georgia over this anomaly. The Report also suggests deleting the requirement that party officers be elected in party primaries. The Report also suggests letting voters register on-line. Thanks to David Shock for the link.