On June 23, the U.S. Supreme Court released six opinions, but not the opinion in the Arizona case on public funding. The Court only has one scheduled day remaining for the release of its last opinions before the summer recess; that day is Monday, June 27.
Maine Governor Paul LePage signed LD 1376 on June 21. This is the bill to repeal same-day voter registration. However, according to this story, groups who support same-day voter registration probably have the resources to circulate a petition, requesting a referendum vote on the issue. If the petition succeeds, the bill will not go into effect until a popular vote is held, either in June 2012 or November 2012.
Same-day voter registration is useful because it prevents the need for provisional ballots.
The Washington state Libertarian Party’s 63-page brief in the 9th circuit in Washington State Republican Party v Washington State Grange was filed on June 21. The brief was one day late, but nevertheless has been accepted by the court.
The California Assembly Elections Committee had been scheduled to hear SB 205 on June 21, but the hearing on that particular bill has been postponed until July 5. SB 205 makes it illegal to pay people to gather voter registrations, if the worker is paid on a per-signature basis. The reason for the postponement was that the bill’s author, Senator Lou Correa, could not attend the hearing.
Because the only remaining method in California for parties to remain on the ballot is to have at least 103,004 registered members, SB 205 will be very damaging to minor parties, especially the Libertarian Party, and the Peace & Freedom Party, because those two parties are now below the threshold. Those two parties, along with the Green Party, and the Coalition for Free & Open Elections (COFOE), have already notified the Assembly Elections Committee that they oppose the bill.
The bill is also damaging to newly qualifying parties, because they also need 103,004 registrations, or else 1,030,040 valid signatures, to get on the ballot. The only party that is making a substantial effort to qualify for 2012, so far, is Americans Elect, which is using the 1,030,040 petition method. No bill pending in the legislature makes it illegal to pay people on a per-signature basis to work on a petition to qualify a new party. However, a bill is moving ahead to make it illegal to pay people on a per-signature basis to work on an initiative, referendum or recall petition. That bill, SB 168, passed the Assembly Elections Committee on June 21. The Committee also passed SB 448, to force circulators of initiative, referendum and recall petitions to wear large buttons telling whether they are paid or not.
According to this story, the government of South Carolina probably won’t pay for any presidential primaries in 2012. In any event, the Democratic Party wasn’t planning one, so the story focuses on the Republican Party. The Republican Party says if the state won’t pay for it, the party will. This is why the Republican Party charges a filing fee of $35,000 for presidential candidates.
Ironically, under South Carolina election law, even if the Republican Party pays for its own presidential primary, it is forced to let all registered voters participate in its primary, whether they consider themselves Republicans or not. Thanks to Political Wire for the link.
