National Popular Vote Plan supporters recently completed collecting signatures on an initiative, that would ask South Dakota voters if they wish to pass the plan. Assuming the initiative has enough valid signatures, it will be on the ballot in November 2012. South Dakota is the first state in which backers of the plan have used the initiative process. UPDATE: the signatures have not yet been collected, but the paperwork has been submitted to enable the drive to begin.
The Green Party is having a national meeting this weekend in Alfred, New York. Four newly elected members of the steering committee are: Mark Swaney of Arkansas, Leenie Halbert of Arizona, Susan Chunco of California, and Farheen Hakeem of Minnesota. Swaney and Halbert have both been very active in working on ballot access problems in their respective states.
On August 5, Julius Galacki asked the 9th circuit to let him intervene in the lawsuit called Chamness v Bowen, which challenges two particular aspects of California’s top-two system. Galacki tried to file as a declared write-in candidate in last month’s run-off election for Congress in California’s 36th district, but his write-in declaration was rejected because California election law says that write-ins can’t be counted in the second round of Congressional elections.
The U.S. District Court then refused to let Galacki intervene, even though if he were allowed to intervene, he would be the only person in that lawsuit who has run, or attempted to run, for Congress as a write-in candidate. He is also the only person associated with the case who has declared an intent to run in 2012. Here is Galacki’s filing. Here is a very short procedural filing that was filed a few hours later.
On August 5, the Republican National Committee voted to oppose the National Popular Vote Plan bill. See this story.
A U.S. District Court in Brooklyn, New York, will hold oral argument in Credico v New York State Board of Elections, 10-cv-4555, on October 13 at 10 a.m. This is the case that challenges New York state policy that lets a candidate appear twice on the November ballot if he or she is the nominee of a qualified party and an unqualified party, or the nominee of two qualified parties; but if the candidate is the nominee of two unqualified parties, the candidate’s name can only appear once on the ballot.
The plaintiff, Randy Credico, had been the nominee for U.S. Senate in 2010 of both the Libertarian Party and the Anti-Prohibition Party, but the state forced him to choose one of those lines, instead of printing his name twice, once under each label.
