A few weeks ago, Mitt Romney said in a Republican presidential debate that he is opposed to letting ex-felons vote, if they had been convicted of a “violent” crime. Now, Ohio Attorney General Michael DeWine, who was once a U.S. Senator, has withdrawn his endorsement of Romney and is instead endorsing Rick Santorum, specifically over Romney’s position on voting rights for ex-felons. See this story. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.
On February 21, at 3:15 p.m., former Congressman Virgil Goode will declare his presidential candidacy in front of Federal Hall, 26 Wall Street, New York. Federal Hall is where George Washington was first inaugurated as President, and was the site of the first U.S. capitol building under the Constitution.
Goode will announce that he is seeking the Constitution Party’s presidential nomination. Assuming he receives it, he will be the first Constitution Party presidential candidate who has held elective federal or state office.
It is possible that three former holders of high elective public office will be running for President in 2012 outside the two major parties: Gary Johnson (a former two-term Governor), Buddy Roemer (a former Governor and former member of Congress) and Goode may all be running in November.
As noted previously, five candidates had filed to appear on the Indiana Republican presidential primary, including an unknown, Patricia Sandifer. Indiana law lets anyone on the ballot, no matter if they only file one signature, if no one challenges their petition. On February 16, someone challenged Sandifer’s petition, which only has one signature on it, so she is now off the ballot. See this story.
The only remaining uncertainty is whether Rick Santorum will be on that ballot. That will be decided on February 24, when the challenge to the Santorum petition is adjudicated by the Indiana Election Commission. The only candidates whose ballot status is confirmed now are Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul, and Mitt Romney. Write-ins are not allowed in Indiana primaries, even though Indiana permits write-ins at the general election.
On February 16, U.S. District Court Judge Charles Lovell heard Lair v Murray, cv12-12-H, over Montana’s ban on independent expenditures about candidates for state office. According to this article, even though the Montana law seems to violate Citizens United v FEC, Judge Lovell is disinclined to enjoin the law. That is because the same group of plaintiffs in this case had already lost on that same issue last month in the Montana Supreme Court.
On February 16, the New Jersey Supreme Court issued an opinion in In re: Contest of November 8, 2011 General Election of Office of the New Jersey General Assembly, A58-11. By a vote of 4-3, the Court upheld a challenge to the eligibility of Gabriela Mosquera to be seated in the lower house of the legislature, because she had not lived in the district for a full year. The New Jersey Constitution requires candidates for the legislature to meet that duration of residency requirement. Mosquera argued that the New Jersey Constitution violates the U.S. Constitution, but that argument did not prevail.
Mosquera, a Democratic Party nominee, won the election last November, and she wasn’t challenged until after the election. However, by now she has lived in the district a full year. When a legislative seat is vacant in New Jersey, that seat is filled by the party that won the last election for that seat. The Democratic Party is expected to appoint her to fill the vacancy. She will then be required to run in November, 2012, to retain her seat.
