President Obama Set to Sign Overseas Voter Act on October 28

Posted on by October 28, 2009
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President Obama is scheduled to sign S.1390 on Wednesday, October 28. This is the Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment Act, contained within the Defense Authorization Bill. The Voter Empowerment Act tells states that in federal elections, they must mail overseas absentee ballots no later than 45 days before the election. UPDATE: he did sign the bill.

Like the Help America Vote Act of 2002, and the Motor Voter Act of 1993, this new bill is one more instance in which the federal government is slowly setting national uniform standards for the nation for federal election administration. The United States and Switzerland are the only nations in the world in which the laws for administering elections for the national elections are written by various subunits of that nation. As the trend continues, it seems more plausible that Congress will eventually set a federal standard for ballot access for Presidential and Congressional candidates.

U.S. District Court in Washington State Denies Request to Revise Campaign Finance Laws for Ballot Measures

Posted on by October 27, 2009
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On October 27, a U.S. District Court Judge in Washington state refused to issue an injunction, letting a group that opposes civil unions raise contributions greater than $5,000 from individuals. Normally individuals may donate as much as they wish to ballot measure campaigns, but state law forbids large donations within the 3 weeks just before an election. The main reason, according to this story, that the judge denied injunctive relief is that the lawsuit was filed on October 21, after voting was already underway. Although election day is November 3, the vast majority of voters in Washington state vote by mail. The Judge indicated reluctance to change the rules at the last minute.

Independent Candidate for U.S. Senate from Connecticut Wants Multiple Party Nominations

Posted on by October 27, 2009
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John Mertens, an engineering professor, is running for U.S. Senate in Connecticut in 2010 on a platform of abolishing federal subsidies for ethanol. He says such a step would save $70,000,000,000 per year and also help the environment. He says he is an independent candidate, but that he also is seeking the nomination of the Independent, Green, Libertarian, and Connecticut for Lieberman Parties. See this story.

Connecticut would permit him to appear on all those party lines, but the Green, Libertarian and Independent Parties are not ballot-qualified for U.S. Senate in 2010. They are qualified for certain other races. In Connecticut, a party is ballot-qualified for each race for which it polled 1% in the last election (it is also ballot-qualified for all office if it polled 20% for Governor in the last gubernatorial election).

The Connecticut for Lieberman Party is ballot-qualified for U.S. Senate in 2010. Mertens would need 7,500 signatures to appear for as the nominee of any of the other parties.