Nebraska State Senator Paul Schumacher (R-Columbus) has introduced LB 566. It makes it possible for proponents of an initiative or recall to collect signatures electronically. Groups using electronic signature-gathering methods would pay a special fee to the government to cover the extra costs. The fee would be $5,000 generally, or $10,000 for initiatives that intend to try to change the Constitution. Here is the text of the bill. Thanks to Kent Bernbeck for this news.
This Columbus, Ohio Dispatch story features candidates who are attempting to get on the ballot for city council. The elections are non-partisan and 1,000 signatures are required. Even though most people would probably assume that it is easy for a candidate to get 1,000 signatures, the story explains the difficulty involved, especially when the signatures must be gathered during cold weather.
The Idaho Secretary of State has asked for many minor election law changes, all wrapped up in one large bill, H 14. Among other things, the bill moves the primary (for president and all other office) from the fourth Tuesday in May, to the third Tuesday in May.
On January 23, the Green Party of Ireland announced that is is withdrawing from the coalition government. See this story. New elections were already being planned, but now they will most likely occur very quickly.
Robert J. Healey, Jr., the Cool Moose Party nominee for Lieutenant Governor of Rhode Island last year, polled 39.15% of the total vote. This was the highest share of the vote for any “other” statewide nominee in Rhode Island since 1875, when independent gubernatorial candidate Rowland Hazard received 39.19% of the vote.
Healey had no Republican opponent, but he was in a race with a Democrat and an independent candidate. He campaigned on a platform of abolishing the office of Lieutenant Governor in order to save taxpayer dollars.
