The Wisconsin Democratic presidential primary will list only President Obama. The Republican presidential primary will include Michele Bachmann, Newt Gingrich, Jon Huntsman, Ron Paul, Rick Perry, Mitt Romney, and Rick Santorum. The primaries are on April 3.
Last month, the Washington, D.C., city council passed bill 19-547, which changes the petitioning period for independent candidates and the nominees of unqualified parties, for President and all other partisan office. Petitioning can now begin two weeks earlier, and the deadline is two weeks earlier. For 2012, the period opens on June 15 and petitions are due on August 8. Thanks to Bob Johnston for this news.
D.C. does permit presidential stand-ins on petitions, so the changed period does not necessarily prevent an unqualified party from choosing its presidential nominee during August of an election year.
The Maryland State Court of Appeals, the highest state court in that state, will hear oral arguments on March 2 in Maryland State Board of Elections v Libertarian & Green Parties of Maryland, 2011-79. This is the case over whether certain types of signatures on petitions are valid. The parties had won the case in the lower court, which is why their petitions for ballot status in 2012 and 2014 have been approved.
According to this story, four Republican territorial legislators in the Northern Mariana Islands have left the Republican Party and will run for re-election as independent candidates.
The New York has this Hendrik Hertzberg column, which rebuts common criticisms of the National Popular Vote Plan idea for presidential elections.
