Truthout has this interesting article, using polling data and other social science research to delve into the ideological beliefs of Americans. Apparently, “conservative” means many different things.
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Truthout has this interesting article, using polling data and other social science research to delve into the ideological beliefs of Americans. Apparently, “conservative” means many different things.
The Washington Post has this story, featuring an Arizona law that says elected public officials are deemed to have resigned if “the person holding the office ceases to discharge the duties of office for the period of three consecutive months.” The writer of the article assumes this law could perhaps be used to force Congressmember Gabrielle Giffords from office in April 2011.
The Arizona law is in Title 38, “Public Officers and Employees”, and also says that elected officials are deemed to have resigned if they move out of their districts. The Arizona law, 38-291, clearly was meant by its authors to apply to Congress. However, it is likely that it is unconstitutional, as applied to members of Congress. In U.S. Term Limits v Thornton, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that states cannot have laws on who can qualify to run for, or sit, in Congress. Last year’s decision by the New Jersey Supreme Court, holding that state laws on recall cannot apply to members of Congress, was influenced by the U.S. Term Limits decision.
Five New Hampshire state representatives have introduced HB 153. Existing New Hampshire law defines “political party” to be any group that polled at least 4% for either Governor or U.S. Senator at the last election. The bill expands the defintion, so that it also means a group that has at least 3,000 registered members. In order to make that second method for qualifying a party effective for groups that are not not qualified parties, the bill sets up a procedure by which voters may register as members of unqualified parties.
The New Hampshire voter registration form does not list any parties. When a voter fills out a voter registration form, he or she must write in the name of the desired party.
The bill also lowers the number of signatures needed for candidates to get on the November ballot. Existing law requires 3,000 for statewide office; 1,500 for U.S. House; 750 for State Senate; and 150 for State House. The bill reduces these requirements to two-thirds of the existing requirement. Therefore, a statewide candidate would need 2,000, etc.
Some state house districts in New Hampshire are so low in population that the existing requirement of 150 signatures is more than 5% of the number of registered voters. New Hampshire is the only state in the nation in which independent candidates for the legislature ever need a petition greater than 5% of the number of registered voters.
As to the ability of voters to register into unqualified parties, the 2nd circuit, the 10th circuit, and lower courts in Iowa, New Jersey, and Oklahoma have ruled that the U.S. Constitution requires states that have registration by party to extend this to voters who wish to register into unqualified parties. The issue has never been litigated in New Hampshire, which now is one of the few states in which voters cannot register into an unqualified party and have that registration recorded and recognized as legitimate. Thanks to Howard Wilson for this news. The sponsors of the bill include four Republicans and one Democrat. The four Republicans are Timothy Comerford (Fremont), Dino Scala (Wakefield), Cameron DeJong (Manchester), and Daniel Itse (Fremont). The Democratic co-sponsor is David Pierce (Etna).
According to this article, the British House of Lords may sit for 24 hours per day, so as to give that body the opportunity to fully debate the bill that sets up a national popular vote on whether House of Commons elections in the future will be conducted with Instant Runoff Voting (that is not the British term). Election officials say the bill must pass by mid-February 2011, if the vote is to take place in May 2011.