Bill Redpath, who is just completing his second term as national chair of the Libertarian Party, will be on the Jon Stewart “Daily Show” on Thursday evening, April 1. The show broadcasts at 11 p.m. on Comedy Central. Stewart will ask Redpath about the Libertarian Party’s position on the census.
The New York Times has this op-ed by former New York State Senator Seymour P. Lachman, making a compelling case for taking the drawing of legislative districts out of the hands of the legislators. Thanks to Rick Hasen’s ElectionLawBlog for the link.
Florida has the highest filing fees in the nation. A Florida candidate for either house of Congress running in a party primary must pay almost $10,000.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1974 that states must have an alternative to the filing fee, at least for candidates who can’t afford the fee. Florida’s alternative to the fee is a petition signed by 1% of the registered voters. This alternate procedure has been in the law since 1974 (although it has been changed in various ways over the years). No one has ever used it for statewide office, until now. Democratic Congressman Kendrick Meek, who is running for U.S. Senate, is about to submit at least 112,476 valid signatures to avoid paying the filing fee. That number is 1% of the number of registered voters in Florida as of October 2008. See this story. Meek probably spent more than $10,000 to obtain these signatures, but the tactic is seen as a means to obtain voter interest in his candidacy. Meek’s campaign says it will be submitting over 130,000 raw signatures. If the petition does not have 112,476 signatures, it is entirely useless. Unlike California’s petition in lieu of filing fee, in which in lieu signatures can be used to reduce the fee on a proportionate basis, the Florida in lieu petition is either totally successful or has no legal effect whatsoever. Thanks to Ken Rudin’s Political Junkie for the link.
Although Kendrick is running in the Democratic primary, the law says any registered voter, regardless of affiliation, may sign the in lieu petition.
The Sacramento Bee of March 28 has two op-ed on California’s Proposition 14, the top-two election measure. Here is the pro-14 op-ed of Harry Kresky, a long-time activist and attorney in the group formerly comprising the New Alliance Party, which then became the Patriot Party, and then merged into the Reform Party, and then formed the Committee for a Unified Independent Party (C.U.I.P.) and now holds itself out as the national leaders of the movement to defend and enhance the rights of independent voters.
Here is the anti-14 op-ed of Shawn Steel, a former state chair of the California Republican Party.
In the last 30 days, none of the election law bills in the House of Representatives have gained any co-sponsors at all, except that the bill to provide for public funding of congressional campaigns has gained 3.
HR 1826, the public funding bill, now has 141 co-sponsors.
HR 3025, to require bipartisan commissions in each state to draw congressional district boundaries, still has 27. HR 4918, the newer bill on gerrymandering, which requires that the process of drawing district lines in each state legislature be transparent, only has one co-sponsor.
HR 3335, to require the states to let ex-felons vote in federal elections, was boosted recently because a subcommittee took testimony on this bill. But it has not gained any co-sponsors in the last month and still has 29.
HR 3957, to require the states to permit registration on election day, has not gained any co-sponsors in over a month and still has 18.
HR 2894, Congressman Rush Holt’s bill on vote-counting machines, has not gained any co-sponsors in months and still has 97.
HR 2499, the bill to hold a plebescite on the future status of Puerto Rico, in which all U.S. citizens who were born there could vote, no matter where they live now, has an impressive number of co-sponsors, 181, but it has not gained any co-sponsors in months.
