California and Washington are among the states in which qualified political parties choose party officers at public elections. In Washington state, Precinct Committee Officers are elected from each precinct at the general election. However, a few months ago, a U.S. District Court struck down Washington state’s system of letting all the voters choose party officers for each party.

In response, the Washington House passed HB 1860 on March 5. It provides that Precinct Committee Officers should be elected simultaneously with the presidential primary in May. The bill also expands their terms of office from two years to four years, which is necessary, because, obviously, presidential primaries are held only every four years. HB 1860 had a hearing in the Senate Government Operations and Elections Committee on March 22. The Committee will hold an executive session on March 24 to vote on the bill. The bill has substantial opposition, and the margin when the bill was in the House was 53-44. An alternative idea is to simply abolish these elections and let parties choose their officers in meetings.

In California, for many decades qualified political parties have chosen county central committee members at the June primary. There is no bill to alter that system. However, the California Association of County Election Officials (CACEO) is conducting a public relations campaign to persuade the legislature to abolish these elections. See this story.

Ironically, however, Proposition 14, passed in June 2010, stands as a legal barrier to abolishing these elections. Proposition 14 amended the California Constitution. Before it passed, the Constitution did not mention elections for county central committee. The old Constitution said, “The Legislature shall provide for primary elections for partisan offices, including an open presidential primary.” The new Constitutional provision says, “The Legislature shall provide for partisan elections for presidential candidates, and political party and party central committees, including an open presidential primary.” (note: “open presidential primary”, as defined by the California Constitution, means a system in which the Secretary of State places presidential candidates on the ballot automatically if they are mentioned in the news media; this is another example of the many definitions of “open primary”).

On March 22, the Maryland Court of Appeals, the highest state court in that state, ruled that signatures on petitions may be valid, even if the signature is illegible. The ruling says that if the printed name on the petition and the address match the voter registration records, and the appearance of the signature matches in both places (whether it is legible or not) the signature is valid. Here is the opinion. The vote was 5-2. The case is Montgomery County Volunteer Fire-Rescue Association v Montgomery County Board of Elections, no. 86.

The dissent starts by saying, “Evolution blessed mankind with, among other beneficial features, opposable thumbs. Perfecting the use of our thumbs, modern descendants of the first Homo Sapiens, unlike other primates, are able to sign their names, in cursive, in a legible manner.”

The decision does not decide a related issue, whether a signature is valid if the signer omits his or her middle initial yet includes that middle initial on the voter registration form (or vice versa). That issue is pending in the 4th circuit, in Kendall v Howard County, Maryland, 09-2304. It was argued on December 9, 2010. A bill is pending in the legislature to provide that the middle initial must not necessarily be included on the petition, even if it is on the registration records (or vice versa).

On March 21, the Arizona Senate Judiciary unanimously approved HB 2304. This bill, sponsored by the Secretary of State and containing many election law changes, improves ballot access. It says that when a party qualifies for the ballot, it is then entitled to be on the ballot for two elections, not just one. Also it legalizes out-of-state circulators for all types of petitions. The bill had already passed the House.