Filing closed earlier this month in New Jersey for candidates for Congress. For the first time since 1890, there will be no congressional candidates on the ballot with a party label that includes the word “Socialist.”
This year, there are 4 Green Party candidates for U.S. House, 3 Libertarians, and one Constitution Party nominee. New Jersey doesn’t have any statewide races up this year.
Georgia’s newly-appointed State Schools Superintendent, Brad Bryant, is a Republican who wishes to run in this November’s election. Because he was not appointed to the job until after qualifying for the Republican primary had closed, he cannot run in the Republican primary on July 20. Georgia does not permit write-ins in partisan primaries. Instead, he will attempt to qualify as an independent candidate. He needs 44,089 valid signatures by July 13.
The Georgia Republican Party will help him with his petition. The Republican who was elected to this position in 2006, Kathy Cox, resigned on May 17, after she had filed for re-election in the Republican primary. Filing for the primary closed on April 30. Cox’s name will continue to appear on the Republican primary ballot, but signs will be posted in polling places saying votes for her will not be counted. Two other Republicans had filed to run against her, and one of them will be the Republican nominee. They are John D. Barge and Richard Woods. But the Governor, and Republican Party leaders, support Bryant. There will also be a Democrat and a Libertarian on the November ballot for this office.
No one has ever completed a statewide independent candidate petition in Georgia for any office other than President. The petition has been required since 1943. Between 1943 and 1979, statewide independents needed signatures equal to 5% of the number of registered voters. From 1979 to 1985, the requirement was 2.5%. Since 1985 it has been 1%. For district and county office, the requirement has been 5% since 1943.
The Independent Party is a ballot-qualified party in Oregon. It has 54,920 registered members, which is 2.7% of the number of registered voters in the state. Oregon only holds primaries for parties with registration membership of 5% or more. This year, the major party primaries were on May 18.
Because the Independent Party has so many members, it is not nominating by convention or caucus this year. Instead, it is holding its own primary, at its own expense, via the internet. The party is sending a postal letter to every member, giving him or her a unique ID number. That number can then be used by that voter to vote in the party’s on-line primary during July. For more information about the process, see the party’s web page at http://indparty.com.
Because Oregon legalized fusion last year, the party has many contested primaries. For Governor, the party has a 3-candidate race: two members of the Independent Party (Jerry Wilson and Richard Esterman), and the Democratic nominee, John Kitzhaber. For U.S. House in the 3rd district, the Independent Party primary is between the Green Party nominee and the Libertarian Party nominee. For the 4th and 5th districts, the Independent Party primary is between the Democratic and Republican nominees. For all state and federal offices combined, there are 77 candidates in the party’s primary.
On June 22 the Secretary of State rejected a complaint by the Democratic Party that the Independent Party’s nomination procedures are unlawful.
The Independent Party was founded in 2005 by supporters of Ralph Nader, and others, who were frustrated that in 2005, the Oregon legislature passed a bill that made it far more difficult for independent candidates to get on the ballot. That 2005 law was repealed in 2009. It said that primary voters could not sign independent candidate petitions.
On June 22, California held a special election to fill the vacant State Senate seat in the 15th district. The seat is vacant because former State Senator Abel Maldonado resigned to become Lieutenant Governor.
The vote: Sam Blakeslee, Republican, 64,676, 49.71%; John Laird, Democrat, 53,639, 41.23%; Jim Fitzgerald, independent, 7,936, 6.10%; Mark Hinkle, Libertarian, 3,848, 2.96%.
Because no one polled 50%, there will be a run-off in August. Because California uses blanket primary rules for its special legislative and congressional elections, all four candidates who ran in June 22 will again run in August.
Blakeslee only missed being elected outright on June 22 by 373 votes. It is likely there are still some provisional ballots remaining to be counted.
On June 22, the California Assembly Elections Committee passed SB 1203, to require petitioners to wear badges that say they are being paid (if, indeed, they are being paid). The bill also requires that the badge identify the county in which the circulator is registered. If the circulator is not registered, the badge must say that as well. Everything on the badge must be in 30-point font.
The bill passed on a party line vote, with all Democrats voting “yes” and all Republicans voting “no.” Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is listed in the bill’s analysis as an opponent of the bill, so it is virtually certain that he will veto it if it reaches his desk.
