The Desert Dispatch, the daily newspaper for Barstow, California, has this op-ed about California’s Proposition 14. It is by Richard Reeb, an author and political scientist.
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On May 27, Colorado Governor Bill Ritter, a Democrat, signed HB 1271. This is the bill that improves ballot access for independent candidates. The old law said no one could be an independent candidate (other than for President) if that person had been a member of a qualified party at any time in the entire year before filing. The bill eases that, so the prior period only goes back to January 1 of the election year.
California is now the only state with a prior registration restriction on independent candidates that is so severe, that it goes back into the year before the election.
Washington State Senator Craig Pridemore, who had been running a strong campaign for the open U.S. House seat in the 3rd district (southwest Washington state), has suddenly dropped out of the race. This commentary from the Northwest Progressive Institute Advocate believes Pridemore’s decision is because there is a possibility that if he stayed in the race, the Washington state top-two system would create a general election with no Democrat on the November ballot.
Although the 3rd district is currently held by Democrats, primary turnout in Washington state is higher among Republicans than among Democrats. Thanks to Dan Meek for the link.
The Federal Election Commission says that already, 2,341 have filed with the FEC as congressional candidates. By contrast, in 2008 only 1,717 people did that; in 2006, only 1,588. See this story.
Candidates for Congress are not obligated to file with the FEC unless they either raise, or spend, as much as $5,000. Therefore, the actual number of congressional candidates is even higher. Also, filing has not closed in many states. Thanks to Political Wire for the link.
On June 2, the Utah Supreme Court heard arguments in Anderson v Lieutenant Governor, 2010-237. The issue is whether signatures may be collected electronically. The plaintiff, Farley Anderson, is an independent candidate for Governor. He won’t be on the ballot unless the Court agrees with some of Utah’s county elections officials that the electronic signatures Anderson gathered are valid. The counties have already checked the signatures, and they believe that the signatures are, or should be, considered valid. See this story.