On August 15, the California Assembly passed SB 448 by a vote of 51-27. All Democrats who voted, voted “Yes”, although Democratic Assemblymembers Bob Blumenfield and Susan Bonilla did not vote. All of the “no” votes were Republicans. The bill requires petitioners to wear a badge that says “Paid Circulator” if that circulator is being paid. The bill no longer requires unpaid circulators to wear any badge, and the bill no longer requires the circulator’s badge to say if that circulator is registered to vote, and, if so, where.

The bill now returns to the Senate for concurrence in the Assembly amendments. The bill does not pertain to circulators who are working on a petition to get a candidate or a party on the ballot. Thanks to Ballot News for this news.

According to this story, New Hampshire Republican Party state chairman Jack Kimball is being threatened with removal, just because he signed the petition to put the Libertarian Party on the ballot in 2012.

The attackers are confusing signing a ballot access petition for a newly-qualifying party with an endorsement of that newly-qualifying party. The meaning of a signature on a ballot access petition was explained well by U.S. District Court Judge Philip Pratt, a Nixon appointee, in Hall v Austin, 495 F.Supp.782 (eastern district of Michigan, 1980). He said a petition measures “whether there is enough support for placing a given candidate on the ballot, not whether there is enough support for electing the candidate. A large segment of the public may be determined never to vote for the candidate yet may wish to see them on the ballot and support their efforts to get on the ballot.” Thanks to Eric Dondero for the link.

The Reform Party will hold a national committee meeting in Bohemia, New York, October 21-23. The committee meeting is combined with a national party building conference. For more information, see www.reformparty.org. The national chair of the Reform Party is David Collison of Texas. The party is ballot-qualified in Florida, Kansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi.

Bohemia is on the south shore of Long Island.