The U.S. Supreme Court will consider whether to hear Cao v Federal Election Commission, 10-776, at its March 18 conference. This is the case in which the Republican Party and former Congressman Joseph Cao hope to expand the party’s ability to spend greater amounts of money supporting their own nominees, even if there is limited coordination between the party and the nominee.
On February 28, Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted held a press conference and outlined his ideas for improving election administration in Ohio. However, he said nothing about ballot access for parties, even though the state’s law on that subject was held unconstitutional over four years ago and the legislature has not passed a new law. See the press release. Thanks to Kevin Knedler for the link.
On February 28, the faction of the American Independent Party that is associated with the Constitution Party filed this ten-page brief. The case is called King v Robinson, and is pending in Superior Court in Solano County, California. There will be a hearing in Fairfield, California, on March 11, Friday, at 9 a.m.
The dispute has been pending since 2008, when the California Secretary of State determined that the AIP faction that supported Alan Keyes for President was the legitimate faction.
On February 24, Heidi Fuller filed her opening brief in Fuller v Bowen in the State Court of Appeals, case number C065237. This is the case that challenges the California Secretary of State’s refusal to enforce the State Constitutional requirement that candidates for the legislature must have lived in their district for one year before filing to run.
The British Electoral Commission has published this 15-page book, “Introduction to Registering a Political Party.” Candidates for the House of Commons handle their own ballot access, by submitting 10 signatures and a filing fee (called a “deposit”) of 500 pounds. Therefore, there is no connection between ballot access and whether any particular party is registered. Parties do not register for the purpose of being on the ballot. Instead, parties must register to make it possible for candidates to use the party label of that party.
Registering a political party in Great Britain is simple. The parties must submit a copy of their internal rules for nominating candidates, and must submit quarterly campaign finance reports. Parties can choose any label that is no longer than six words, is not obscene or in poor taste, and which does not contain certain words or phrases, such as “none of the above” or a reference to the royal family. Parties also submit a logo, which appears on the ballot next to the names of that party’s nominees. When parties register, their name is protected, and cannot be used by other groups. Thanks to Thomas Jones for the link.
