The Mitt Romney campaign has produced a 50-second ad, showing committed Democrats and committed supporters of President Obama saying on camera that they are organizing Democrats to vote in open primary states for Rick Santorum. See it via this link.
On February 29, the Texas Republican Party and Texas Democratic Party submitted a joint proposal to the 3-judge U.S. District Court that is hearing the redistricting case. The two parties advocate these policies for minor party and independent candidate ballot access for 2012:
1. Petitions for newly-qualifying parties, and for independent candidates for President, and independent candidates for all other office, will be due June 29.
2. No primary screen-out will exist in 2012 for these petitions.
These ideas represent a huge improvement for ballot access, compared to the statutory law. Under the statutes, which will not be in effect in 2012, the independent presidential candidate petition deadline is May 14. Assuming the court adopts the proposed order, for the first time since 1984, every state will have some procedure for a non-Democratic, non-Republican presidential candidate to get on the ballot by a date later than June 3. The earliest deadline for president will be Colorado, which does not require a petition for independent presidential candidates, but which requires a $500 filing fee no later than June 4, 2012. The latest deadline, which is shared by half a dozen states, is September 7, 2012.
2012 will also be the first presidential election since 1908 in which no state has a primary screen-out for all methods to the general election ballot.
Thanks to Jim Riley for alerting me to the proposed order, and to Texas Redistricting Blog for a link to the order.
This story says that earlier press reports that Maine Governor Paul LePage would ask the legislature for a later petition deadline, for primary candidates, are incorrect. The story also mentions the very large field of Maine major party politicians who will be petitioning to get on the Democratic or Republican primary ballots for either U.S. Senate, or one of the two U.S. House seats. All this is because U.S. Senator Olympia Snowe said yesterday that she will not run for re-election.
Some press reports have speculated that Snowe might be a possible Americans Elect nominee for either President or Vice-President, but Snowe herself has not said anything about Americans Elect. Thanks to Alex Hammer for the link.
In the United States, ballot access lawsuits can even involve student body elections, as this article shows. A Texas state court judge has postponed an election for the presidency of the University of Texas student body, so as to settle a dispute over whether the student body election rules violate Freedom of Association.
On February 28, the Arizona Senate passed SCR 1021, which would put a ballot measure on the November 2012 ballot, asking voters if they wish to stop funding public funding for candidates for state office. The vote was 21-9. All Republicans voted “Yes” and all Democrats voted “No.” Now the measure goes to the House.
