On March 6, Estonia held a national election. Almost 25% of the voters voted by internet. See this story.
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On March 3, a U.S. District Court in Rhode Island approved settlement of the lawsuit Matson v Town of North Kingstown, Rhode Island, 10-435-ML. The lawsuit had been filed last October by John O. Matson, an independent candidate for U.S. House in Rhode Island’s 2nd district. He challenged a city ordinance that banned political signs in residential areas that are larger than six square feet. He also challenged the provision that no sign may ever be posted on a tree, even if the sign was posted by the person who owns the tree. And he challenged the provision that permitted political signs only within 60 days of an election. The ACLU represented him. Here is the consent decree.
He prevailed on all three points. Matson had been one of three candidates in the race for U.S. House, 2nd district, last year. He polled 8.4%. The Democratic incumbent, James Langevin, had been re-elected with 59.9%, and the Republican nominee, Mark Zaccaria, had polled 31.8%.
Tim Eyman, a leading proponent of the initiative process in Washington state, has this commentary, rejoicing that SB 5297 and HB 1668 failed to pass in Washington state this year. The bills, as originally written, required signature-gathering businesses to register with the Secretary of State, and allowed the businesses to be prosecuted if any of their employees committed an act of fraud.
As the bill passed various committees in the State Senate, it was amended to bar petitioners from being within 15 feet of a store entrance or exit without the property owner’s permission (Washington is one of the few states in which the State Supreme Court has ruled that shopping centers must permit petitioning on shopping center property). Also the bill was amended to require that paid circulators must print their name, address, and employer on each petition sheet, whereas volunteer petitions did not need to do this, nor did circulators who were employed by a union.
On March 7, the Texas House Election Committee heard testimony on HB 418, the bill to charge filing fees for independent candidates, and candidates nominated by convention. Minor parties nominate by convention in Texas, and only the Democratic and Republican Parties have primaries. The committee heard testimony from members of the Constitution Party, Green Party, and Libertarian Party, all opposing the bill. The committee consensus then seemed to be to leave the bill pending in committee. Thanks to Robert Butler for this news.
Russell Mokhiber has this piece, in Counterpunch, criticizing Common Cause for weighing in in favor of discriminatory public funding laws in the Connecticut Green Party case in the U.S. Supreme Court. Thanks to IndependentPoliticalReport for the link.