Ballot Access Bill Introduced in Missouri House

Last month, several Missouri state representatives introduced HB 2210 in the House. It is identical to SB 796. Both bills delete the requirement that petitions to create new ballot-qualified parties must list the party’s candidates for presidential elector, and the party’s presidential candidate, on the petition.

The only reason the law requires the presidential candidate, and the presidential elector candidates, on the petition for a new party is because of a drafting error back in 1993. Under current law, the party petition doesn’t list the party’s candidates for any other offices. Thanks to Ken Bush for this news, and also for bringing these bills into existence.

Ohio Releases Candidate List for May 2010 Primary

The Ohio Secretary of State has released a list of candidates who will be on the May ballot, in primaries for each of the six qualified parties. No statewide race will have more than four nominees in November, unless some independent candidates qualify (that deadline is in May), or unless some candidates are nominated by write-in votes at one of the primaries. The general election race for Governor/Lieutenant Governor will have nominees from the Democratic, Republican, Green, and Libertarian Parties. The U.S. Senate race will have nominees from the Democratic, Republican, Constitution, and Socialist Parties.

Illinois Releases Official Vote Totals for February 2, 2010 Primary

The Illinois State Board of Elections has finished compiling the official vote cast in the February 2, 2010 primary elections. The Republican race for Governor was even closer than had been thought. Whereas the day after the election, the unofficial total had shown Bill Brady winning over second-place finisher Kirk Dillard by about 400 votes, the official margin is only 193 votes. Brady won the nomination with only 20.26% of the total Republican vote cast. The percentages were: Brady 20.26%, Dillard 20.24%, McKenna 19.29%, Ryan 17.04%, Andrejewski 14.47%, Proft 7.73%, Schillerstrom .97%.

Amici Briefs Roll in for Petition Privacy

The American Bar Association has an excellent web page that lists amici curiae briefs in U.S. Supreme Court cases that the Court has accepted. Here is the link to the ABA page for the case called Doe v Reed, 09-559, the case the Court will hear on April 28. Scroll down to the bottom to the April 28 entry.

Amici briefs in support of petition privacy have been filed by 47 organizations. There are 13 such briefs, because sometimes many organizations have joined together to file a single brief.

There is also an amici brief in support of neither side, filed jointly by the Brennan Center for Justice, the Center for Responsive Politics, and the Sunlight Foundation. It says, “The purpose of this submission by amici is not to urge the Court to reach a particular resolution of the claims before it, but rather to direct the Court’s attention to the broader disclosure interests that could be affected by its disposition of this case.” These three groups are neutral on whether petitions should be private, but they are urging the Court to make a distinction between privacy for petition signers, versus privacy for campaign contributors. Thanks to Peter Gemma for the link.

The only minor party that submitted an amicus brief is the Constitution Party, which signed on to one of the amici that speaks for many organizations.

Later there will undoubtedly be amici briefs on the side of Washington state. They aren’t due until mid-March.

One Georgia Ballot Access Bill Gets a Legislative Hearing

On Monday, March 8, at 2 p.m., the Elections Subcommittee of the Georgia House Government Affairs Committee will hold a hearing on HB 1141, one of the Georgia ballot access reform bills. HB 1141 lowers the statewide candidate petitions (both independent and minor party), and the U.S. House candidate petitions, to exactly 5,000 signatures. Thanks to Jason Pye for this news.