On January 11, Illinois state representative Rosemary Mulligan withdrew from the Republican primary ballot, in the face of a challenge to her primary petition. See this story. She will run as a write-in candidate in the Republican primary. She needs 500 write-ins. No one else is on the Republican primary ballot in her race, which is in the 55th district.

She has been in the legislature since 1992. In November 2010, she was re-elected with 67.6% of the vote. This example shows the absurdity of the idea that voter support for a candidate should be equated with his or her ability to complete a petition. It is very likely she will receive the needed 500 votes in the Republican primary to win a place on the November ballot. If she does not, the lone Democratic candidate will probably be the only name on the November ballot. Thanks to Ken Krawchuk for this news.

In March 2012, Ohio will hold a primary for seven parties. However, except for the Democratic and Republican Parties, no one will appear on any party’s primary ballot for U.S. Senate. Minor party members who might have wanted to run for U.S. Senate in their own party’s primary all were unable to get 500 signatures to appear on the statewide primary ballot, mostly because the deadline was shortened unexpectedly.

However, an Ohio Green, Joseph DeMare, is a declared write-in for the U.S. Senate Green Party nomination. Even though he is running unopposed, he cannot appear on the November 2012 ballot as a Green unless he receives 500 write-in votes on March 6. If he is able to surmount this hurdle, he will be the first minor party candidate for statewide office to ever get enough votes in an Ohio minor party primary to be on the November ballot. See this story.

DeMare had to struggle to persuade the Ohio Secretary of State’s office to accept him as a declared write-in candidate. When the Green Party first asked the Secretary of State’s office about filing as a declared write-in, the office said write-ins are not permitted in primaries for U.S. Senate. The office changed its mind after seeing evidence that there had been past declared write-in candidates for U.S. Senate in Republican and Democratic primaries.

The Texas Tribune has this interesting article about the problem Texas election administrators may have with the April 3 primary date. Texas does not have settled boundaries for U.S. House districts, or state legislative districts. The U.S. Supreme Court, a 3-judge court in Texas, and a 3-judge court in Washington, D.C., are all involved in lawsuits over these districts. If these three courts do not issue opinions within the next three weeks, the primary might need to be postponed. That would have important implications for ballot access. Texas law does not permit petitioning for minor parties or independent candidates until after the primary.

The Texas Tribune is an on-line newspaper about public policy in Texas, and was founded in 2009. Thanks to Thomas Jones for the link.