On January 25, Frederic von Anhalt said he will run as an independent candidate for Governor of California. See this story, which explains his platform. UPDATE: Here is his campaign site. No one has used the California independent candidate procedure to get on the ballot for Governor since 1978, when Ed Clark qualified. Clark was not a true independent; he was the Libertarian Party nominee. But the Libertarian Party was not ballot-qualified in California in 1978, so Clark used the independent procedure.

Before 1978, no independent qualified for California governor since 1918, when Theodore Bell qualified. Bell was not a true independent either. He was the choice of the Democratic Party for Governor, and he used the independent procedure because, due to a quirk in California election laws back then, the Democratic Party had no nominee for Governor in 1918. No true independent candidate for California Governor has ever been on a government-printed ballot in California.

On January 25, the Indiana Supreme Court said it will hear the state’s appeal in League of Women Voters v Rokita, the case over whether Indiana’s Constitution is violated by the state’s law, requiring voters at the polls to show government photo-ID in order to vote. The State Court of Appeals had invalidated the law on September 17, 2009, by a vote of 3-0. The State Court of Appeals decision is reported at 915 NE 2d 151. Thanks to Rick Hasen for this news.

California Assemblymember Manuel Perez, a Democrat who represents Imperial County and eastern Riverside County, says in this newspaper interview that he opposes the “top-two open primary” that will be on the June 2010 ballot. He mentioned the lack of voter choices in November, if the proposal passes.

The interview appears in The Desert Sun, a Palm Springs daily newspaper that has carried commentary in favor of “top-two”, but which has so far declined to print a letter to the editor from a resident of the Palm Springs area who sent such a letter.