As reported earlier, a lawsuit challenging the Vermont June petition deadline for independent candidates will go forward, if enough contributions are pledged to help pay the cost of the transcript. As of mid-afternoon November 18, $865 has been pledged. To pledge, e-mail richardwinger@yahoo.com. Thank you.
The Portland Daily Sun (Maine) has this story on Americans Elect. It says the group has 24,000 signatures so far on its petition for recognition as a new party, and also says that Eliot Cutler, who was almost elected Governor as an independent in 2010, strongly backs the group. The Maine petition is one of the most difficult in the nation. Maine is the only state in which only independent voters, and voters who are members of that particular party, are permitted to sign the petition. It requires 28,639 valid signatures.
Any voter in Maine is already free to register as a member of Americans Elect on voter registration forms. Maine has other procedures for a group to become a qualified party. The method that is most commonly used is for a group to run a candidate for Governor or President, using the much easier independent petition. Then, if the group’s candidate gets at least 5% of the vote, that group becomes a qualified party. The Green Party used this method to obtain party status; it has never completed the difficult party petition. The party petition procedure has only existed since 1976, and was used only once before, by the Reform Party in 1995.
The November 18 New York Times has an op-ed by Rick Hasen, a prominent professor of law at the University of California at Irvine, and an expert on election law. His op-ed explains how important the federal Voting Rights Act is just now, and also explains that backers of the Act worry that the Act may soon be declared partially unconstitutional. See one version of the op-ed here.
The Utah Foundation has just published a study of Utah’s unique primary system. Utah is the only state in which no one can get on a primary ballot for any non-presidential office unless the candidate has high support at a party nominating convention first. In Utah, if a candidate (for office other than President) doesn’t get at least 40% of the votes at the party’s pre-primary nominating convention, he or she can’t run in that party’s primary. See the Utah Foundation’s press release here. The press release has a link to the study. The Utah Foundation recommends that Utah provide easier access for candidates to run in party primaries.
Connecticut once had a system very similar to Utah’s current system, but a U.S. District Court declared it unconstitutional in Campbell v Bysiewicz, 242 F.Supp. 2d 164, in 2003. However, given the 2008 U.S. Supreme Court decision New York State Board of Elections v Lopez Torres, it is obvious that the Connecticut decision is no longer good law, and a lawsuit against the Utah system would not succeed, unless it was filed by a political party as applied to that party’s own nominating process.
Under existing New York state law, the 2012 primary (for all office except President) will be September 11, 2012. On November 17, the New York State Senate filed a brief in U.S. v State of New York, and asked the U.S. District Court to order the state to hold the primary instead on August 14 or August 21. The State Senate brief says, “The hope that the legislature will resolve this matter is not feasible.” The legislature is not in session and won’t be until January 2012.
In New York, Republicans control the State Senate and Democrats control the Assembly. New York Republicans want an August primary and New York Democrats want a June primary. The legislature has been deadlocked all year. The issue is in court because the federal government sued New York over a year ago, because the existing September 11 primary date makes it impossible for New York to obey the 2009 federal law that requires states to mail overseas absentee ballots no later than 45 days before any election. In 2012, 45 days before the general election is September 22. Given a September 11 primary there isn’t enough time to count the primary votes and then print up general election ballots and mail them by September 22.
The lawsuit has a hearing on December 1.
The only other states with a congressional primary on September 11 are Delaware, New Hampshire and Rhode Island. No state has a later congressional primary.
