Oregon Lawsuit Filed Over Validity of Initiative Petitions

Posted on by July 23, 2010
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Proponents of an Oregon initiative, to require non-partisan redistricting, have filed a state court lawsuit over the Secretary of State’s procedures for checking signatures.  The Secretary of State is invalidating entire petition sheets, if even one signature on the petition carries a date that seems to be outside the date range for that sheet.

Generally when signers of petitions are required to fill in the date of signing, they use all numerals.  Thus, August 6, 2010 is typically indicated “8/6/2010.”  But many people nowadays use the European system of indicating a date.  In Europe, and increasingly in the United States, people put the date first, and then the month, and then the year, for example “6/8/2010.”  If even one person shows a date that way, under the Secretary of State’s procedures, the entire sheet is eliminated.  The lawsuit hopes for a ruling that invalidation of the entire sheet is contrary to state law.  Thanks to BallotBoxNews for the news about this lawsuit.  The case is Derfler v Brown, 10-c-18408, Circuit Court, 3rd district (Salem), filed July 21, 2010.

Kansas Formally Agrees that its Out-of-State Circulator Ban is Unconstitutional

Posted on by July 23, 2010
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On July 20, the Kansas Attorney General and attorneys for the Constitution Party filed a joint brief in U.S. District Court, arguing that the Kansas ban on out-of-state circulators is unconstitutional.  The case is Constitution Party of Kansas v Biggs, 10-4043-SAC.

It is now expected that U.S. District Court Judge Sam Crow will issue an opinion, mirroring the points in the brief and holding the law unconstitutional.  Kansas state officials feel that they cannot hope to prevail, so by agreeing with plaintiffs, that saves the state additional litigation expenses.  Kansas is in the 10th circuit, and in 2008 the 10th circuit ruled in an Oklahoma case that bans on out-of-state circulators are unconstitutional.

The other issue in the case remains unsettled.  That is whether Kansas must let voters register into parties that are not ballot-qualified.  The Constitution Party is not ballot-qualified in Kansas, but it is organized, and its members would like to be able to register into the Constitution Party.  The Kansas voter registration form has a checkbox for each of the four qualified parties, and no write-in line, so voters must either choose independent status, or they must say they are members of the Democratic, Republican, Libertarian or Reform Parties, on their voter registration forms.

Independent Party Petitions for Full Slate of Connecticut Statewide Offices

Posted on by July 23, 2010
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The Independent Party of Connecticut expects to qualify a full slate of candidates for all the statewide offices this year.  See this story.  The party already has 11,000 signatures on its statewide petition.  The law requires 7,500.

Although the Libertarian Party and the Green Party are ballot-qualified for some of the lesser statewide offices in Connecticut, they are not ballot-qualified for Governor or U.S. Senator and they are not petitioning this year for Governor or U.S. Senator.  Therefore, it is likely that the Independent Party nominee for Governor will be the only ballot-listed opponent of the Democratic and Republican Parties for Governor.  For U.S. Senator, the Connecticut for Lieberman Party is ballot-qualified and will have a nominee.  Although the Working Families Party will also be on the 2010 ballot for all the statewide offices, it will be cross-endorsing all the Democratic statewide nominees.

The Independent Party is already ballot-qualified for President in Connecticut, and for U.S. House in the 5th district, and in 15 state legislative districts.  But it hasn’t had ballot-status for the state statewide offices.  Connecticut is the only state in which a party’s qualified status is on an office-by-office basis.  A party that polled 1% for any particular office in the last election is automatically on the ballot for that particular office.  The party ran Ralph Nader for President in Connecticut in 2008.  Thanks to ThirdPartyDaily for the link.

Tom Tancredo May become Constitution Party Nominee for Governor of Colorado

Posted on by July 23, 2010
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According to this Denver Post story, there is a fair chance that former Republican Congressman Tom Tancredo will become the American Constitution Party’s candidate this year for Governor of Colorado.  The Constitution Party affiliate in Colorado is called the American Constitution Party.  It is ballot-qualified.

Tancredo is more famous than most former members of the U.S. House, because he ran for President in the early Republican presidential primaries in 2008.  When he ran for President, he emphasized the issue of illegal immigrants more than any other issue.  Thanks to Taegan Goddard’s PoliticalWire for the link.

Here is another Denver Post story, on the legality of Tancredo’s candidacy.  Colorado law lets each qualified political party decide for itself whether to nominate candidates who, in the past, were members of another party.  The American Constitution Party’s bylaws say that past affiliation is not relevant, if two-thirds of the party state committee agree to let the candidate run.  The American Constitution Party’s state committee has already voted to accept Tancredo’s nomination.  The party’s original gubernatorial nominee, Benjamin Goss, has also agreed to withdraw in favor of Tancredo.  Thanks to Jason Miller for that link.