On July 14, the managing editor of Black Agenda Report, Bruce Dixon, published this essay, advocating that black political activists enter the Green Party and assume leadership roles in that party.
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On July 23, independent U.S. House candidate Daniel Reale filed an ethics complaint against Connecticut Secretary of State Susan Bysiewicz for urging voters to register into the Republican or Democratic Parties. Bysiewicz’s message was promulgated in her role as a spokesperson for state government, not in any private role. Politea has the complete story here. The Politea article also collects other instances at which Bysiewicz has been hostile to minor party and independent candidates.
Mary Norwood, the independent candidate for Chair of the Fulton County, Georgia, Commission, sued Fulton County elections officials on July 22, because they refused to accept her filing fee on July 3, because the law says she should have paid it by noon and she paid it four hours later. The case will get a hearing on July 27 at 1:30 p.m. It is somewhat encouraging that the judge was willing to schedule the hearing so quickly. Thanks to Christina Tobin for this news. The case is Norwood v Fulton County Board of Registration and Elections, Superior Court, 2010-cv-188643.
Meanwhile, the county still hasn’t finished checking her petition. She submitted approximately 33,000 signatures to meet a requirement of approximately 22,500. The petition requirement is 5% of the number of registered voters in the county, as of October 2006.
On July 23, Delaware Governor Jack Markell signed HB 425. It reduces the number of registrants a party needs to be ballot-qualified, for 2010 only, from 612 members, to 306 members. This has the effect of immediately putting the Green Party back on the ballot. It will also make it much easier for the Constitution Party to get back on the ballot. As a result of the bill, the Constitution Party only needs to get about 25 more registrants between now and August 10 in order to be ballot-qualified.
It is not easy for parties to gain more registrants during an election year in Delaware, because the state does not permit voters to change parties in the period before primaries or general elections. The law is ambiguous about whether independent voters may switch to join parties during these periods.
Delaware is the third state in which the Green Party has gained party status this month. The other two are Arkansas and Texas.
The July 25 New York Post has this story about Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, and how he is once again challenging his Republican opponent’s signatures. Silver had no Republican opponent in 2000, 2002, and 2004, although he did in 2006 and 2008.