On August 24, Vermont held primaries for the Democratic, Republican, and Progressive Parties.  Vermont does not have registration by party, and any voter is free to choose any party’s primary ballot.

The Democratic primary ballot was chosen by 74,633 voters; the Republican primary ballot by 30,058 voters; and the Progressive Party primary ballot by 553 voters.

By comparison, in 2008, when there were four parties entitled to their own primary, the number of voters choosing the September primary ballot of each party was:  Democratic 23,499; Republican 12,444; Progressive 470; Liberty Union 172.

Liberty Union Party was not entitled to its own primary in 2010 because none of its statewide nominees in 2008 polled as much as 5% of the vote.  However, Liberty Union is still a ballot-qualified party in Vermont, nominating by convention this year.

On September 3, a Washington State Superior Court in Thurston County ruled that the Secretary of State may release the names and addresses of the people who signed various initiative petitions circulated by Tim Eyman, over the last ten years.  Last year, Eyman had filed a lawsuit to keep the information private.  It is Eyman v Reed, 09-2-02447-0.

Earlier this year, the U.S. Supreme Court had ruled in Doe v Reed that people who sign ballot measure petitions have no automatic federal constitutional right to keep the information from being released to the public.  But, the U.S. Supreme Court also said that if the signers can show they are likely to be injured if the information is released, then they do have privacy protection.  In the case of the various Eyman tax initiatives, no one alleged that the signers would be harmed.  The question of whether the names and addresses of people who signed the petition against same-sex civil unions is still pending in U.S. District Court.

On September 3, the Michigan Supreme Court voted 5-2 not to hear the appeal of the group that tried to get on the ballot as “The Tea Party”.  The State Court of Appeals had earlier kept that party off the ballot because most of its paperwork said the name of the party is “The Tea Party”, but the petitions say the party is “Tea Party.”  Thanks to Brad Smith for this news.