Arizona Polling Place Official Tells Voter She Can’t Wear Shirt that Mentions Tea Party

Posted on by June 3, 2010
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Flagstaff, Arizona, held a Mayoral election on May 18. At one polling place, a voter came in wearing a shirt that said “Flagstaff Tea Party – Reclaiming Our Constitution.” The only other text on the shirt was “We the People.”

Polling place officials told her she must cover up her shirt, or leave the room. Then, because she was the only voter present, she was permitted to vote without covering up the shirt, but she was warned that she must not wear such clothing to vote in the future. However, the Tea Party is not a ballot-qualified party, has no candidates of its own, and furthermore the election was non-partisan. The Institute for Justice has filed a complaint and seeks a declaration that the action at that polling place was incorrect. See this story.

New York Bill Eases Definition of Qualified Party

Posted on by June 3, 2010
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On May 28, S8007 was introduced in the New York State Senate. It liberalizes the definition of a qualified political party. The existing definition says a qualified party is a group that polled at least 50,000 votes for Governor. The bill changes this, so that it is a group that polled at least 50,000 votes for any statewide office in a gubernatorial election year. If this bill were law now, the Green Party would be ballot-qualified, because in 2006 it polled 117,908 votes for Comptroller, and 61,849 votes for Attorney General, and 55,469 votes for U.S. Senate. Governor is the only race in which the Green Party didn’t receive 50,000 votes.

On June 1, the bill was transferred from the Election Committee to the Rules Committee. According to an employee of the New York legislature, this is a good sign for the bill, because “Rules is a stronger committee than Elections.” The bill’s author is the Rules Committee itself, so the bill is likely to pass the Rules Committee. Thanks to William D. Stevenson for this news.

Zack Kaldveer Analyzes Proposition 14

Posted on by June 3, 2010
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Zack Kaldveer has this fairly length analysis of California’s Proposition 14, the top-two election measure on the June 8 ballot. Kaldveer is Communication Director of the Consumer Federation of California. He is also editor of Privacy Revolt, and also has the blog Take the Red Pill.

California State Senate Passes Same-Day Voter Registration Bill

Posted on by June 2, 2010
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On May 2, the California State Senate passed SB 1140. Current law says no one may vote who has not registered two weeks before election day. The bill sets up a method for unregistered people to register on election day. However, they could not vote at their neighborhood polling place. They would need to go to the county seat, or perhaps an auxiliary county elections office. See this story.

The vote was 22-12. Bills must have 21 votes in order to pass, no matter how few Senators are present and voting. California has 40 Senators. The press in California has been noting recently the poor attendance in the California Senate recently.