On July 14, the California legislature passed AB 461, which says that write-ins are valid even if the voter forgot, or didn’t know, to “X” the box next to the name written in. The legislature had passed a similar bill several years ago, but Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger had vetoed it.
Write-ins are still important in California primaries, and for non-partisan elections, and for President.
On July 14, the California legislature passed AB 459, the National Popular Vote plan bill. Governor Jerry Brown is expected to sign it. It had been amended slightly in the Senate, but the Assembly passed the amended version shortly after the Senate vote. Thanks to John Koza and Thomas Jones for this news.
Only one Republican voted for it in the Assembly, and no Senate Republicans voted for it. The bill had passed the California legislature in the past, but Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger had vetoed it.
On June 14, the California Senate passed AB 80 by 34-3. It eliminates the February presidential primary, and instead combines the presidential primary with the primary for other office, in June. The bill saves a great deal of money for election administration. Thanks to Josh Putnam of Frontloading HQ for this news. The bill now goes to the Governor.
The Burlington Free Press for July 15 has an extensive story about the first day of the trial in the lawsuit in state court over the constitutionality of the Vermont June petition deadline for independent candidates.
On July 14, Americans Elect web page posted the national cumulative total of signatures obtained on ballot access petitions across the nation. The web page is normally updated every Thursday, and normally shows that approximately 70,000 signatures had been collected in the previous week. The July 14 tally is 1,574,125, which compares to last week’s tally of 1,501,174. As usual, the vast majority of these are from California.
If Americans Elect had collected 1,574,125 nationwide, properly distributed with the required number from each state, and if it used the easier procedure in California, it would now have enough signatures to place its 2012 presidential nominee on the ballot of all 50 states. But, Americans Elect is going about its job in an extravagent manner, by spending millions to complete the more difficult California procedure, the California 10% petition, instead of doing the far easier and cheaper California 1% registration alternative.
