On June 6, the Virginia legislature passed HB 736, which moves the non-presidential 2012 primary from June to August. That automatically moves the petition deadline for independent candidates for Congress and local office, and the nominees of unqualified parties for those offices, from June to August as well.
Joe Mathews, a California journalist and author, and one of the nation’s leading proponents of Proportional Representation, has this column in Fox & Hounds, suggesting to California Republicans that they advocate proportional representation. As he correctly notes, Republican candidates for California legislature, cumulatively, regularly poll a higher share of the statewide popular vote than the percentage of seats they win.
Fox & Hounds is a Republican-leaning blog about California politics. Thanks to Thomas Jones for the link.
On March 6, Public Policy Polling released a poll showing these results for the November 2012 Maine U.S. Senate race: Independent Angus King 36%, Democrat Chellie Pingree 31%, Republican Charlie Summers 28%, undecided or other 5%.
On the evening of March 5, King said that he will be an independent candidate for U.S. Senate this year. The poll was taken prior to that announcement. The poll’s assumption of who the Republican and Democratic nominees will be is just a guess, because the primary won’t be until June.
Angus King was elected Governor of Maine as an independent in 1994, and re-elected easily as an independent in 1998.
On March 6, a U.S. District Court Magistrate in Brooklyn, New York, released the court’s proposed maps for new U.S. House districts. See this story. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.
Utah state elections officials have determined that the Justice Party petition for ballot access has enough valid signatures. This is the first Justice Party petition drive that has succeeded. The Justice Party is also qualified in Mississippi, but Mississippi doesn’t require petitions for party ballot access, just organization.
The Justice Party’s Hawaii petition fell short, but the party is thinking about filing a lawsuit to overturn the February 23 petition deadline. In 1986, when the Hawaii petition deadline for new parties was 150 days before the primary, a U.S. District Court issued an injunction against that deadline on the grounds that it was unconstitutionally early. In the years since then, the Hawaii legislature moved the petition deadline even earlier, to 170 days before the primary.
Utah still hasn’t finished checking the Green Party petition.
