Darcy Richardson to Run for Florida Lieutenant Governor

Posted on by September 1, 2010
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On September 1, the Farid Khavari independent gubernatorial campaign announced that Khavari’s running mate in the Florida race will be Darcy Richardson.  See the campaign’s press release at IndependentPoliticalReport.

The campaign web page is here (www.khavariforgovernor.com).  The ballot for the Florida gubernatorial race will include eight choices, but the Khavari-Richardson ticket probably has the strongest campaign, apart from the two major party tickets.  Another independent candidate for Florida Governor is Daniel Imperato, who sought the Libertarian presidential nomination in 2008.

Independent Candidate in Missouri Gets on Ballot After Catching Error in Secretary of State’s Calculation of How Many Signatures Needed

Posted on by September 1, 2010
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Nick Gartelos, an independent candidate for the Missouri State Senate, is now safely on the November ballot, but only because he caught an error in the state’s determination of how many signatures he needed.  See this story.  Independent candidates for district office in Missouri need a petition of 2% of the last vote cast for that office.  The Secretary of State forgot that State Senate seat had been most recently filled in a special election.  She calculated 2% on the last regularly-scheduled election for that seat, but the candidate noticed the error.

This story is somewhat similar to the method by which former Congressman Jim Traficant got on the Ohio general election ballot this year as an independent candidate.  He had to contest the calculation of how many signatures were legally required.  Ohio elections officials had initially miscalculated the required number of signatures.

Missouri State Court Invalidates Requirement that Signatures are Invalid if Circulators Didn’t Register with the State

Posted on by September 1, 2010
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On August 31, a Missouri state circuit court judge ruled that election officials may not disqualify signatures on petitions, just because the circulator didn’t register with the state.  The law still stands that says circulators must register with the state.  But the judgment says that just because the circulator did not register with the state, that cannot be the basis for invalidating signatures.  The Court focused on the harm done to the people who sign petitions, when their signatures aren’t counted, through no fault of their own.

The Secretary of State will appeal directly to the Missouri Supreme Court, but meanwhile will certify the particular initiative for the November 2010 ballot.  The case is McClelland and Vote Yes to Stop Double Taxation Committee v Secretary of State, Cole County, 10ac-cc-00504.  Thanks to Bryan Sells for this news.