At 4:40 p.m. on March 31, Michael Chamness appealed to the 9th circuit, in his lawsuit to force elections officials to allow him to be listed on the ballot as either “independent” or “My party preference is the Coffee Party.” The 9th circuit quickly asked the Secretary of State’s attorneys to file a response by noon, April 1. The case is Chamness v Bowen. If Chamness gets no relief, his ballot label will be “No party preference”. The U.S. District Court Judge in this case had denied relief to Chamness on March 30.

The election is set for May 17, to fill the vacant U.S. House seat, 36th district, in Los Angeles County. The seat is empty because Congresswoman Jane Harman resigned. The overseas absentee ballots are about to be printed, so this case is moving very fast.

Cecil Bothwell says he will attempt to get on the ballot in North Carolina’s 11th district in 2012, as an independent candidate. No independent candidate has ever appeared on a government-printed ballot in North Carolina for either house of Congress. The current law requires a petition signed by 4% of the registered voters. However, bills are pending in each house of the legislature to ease the requirements.

Bothwell is a member of the Asheville city council. He is upset with the incumbent Democrat in this district. See this story. Thanks to ThirdPartyDaily for the link.

The West Virginia legislature adjourned on March 18, having passed few election law bills. Bills that failed to pass included two bills to re-define “political party”. Currently, a qualified party is one that polled 1% for Governor at the last regular election. The bills would have added alternatives. Another bill that failed to pass would have eliminated the straight-ticket device. Another would have passed the National Popular Vote Plan.

The Governor vetoed HB 2438, which would have clarified the definition of “independent voter” to make it clear that a registered member of an unqualified party is considered to be an independent. The only time this makes a difference is when a party entitled to its own primary has a rule allowing independent voters to vote in its primary. The Governor vetoed the bill because of other, unrelated provisions in the bill.

Restrictive bills that failed to pass included several bills to force declared write-in candidates to pay a filing fee (SB 29 and HB 2417); a bill to change the order of parties on the ballot so that the party with the most voter registrations is always listed first on the ballot (HB 2444); and a bill to provide that the names and addresses of people who sign petitions should be made public (HB 2533).

The Governor signed HB 3100 on March 30. It repeals the law that says liquor can not be sold on election day.