The Illinois First District Appellate Court has received briefs from both sides  in Constitution Party v State Board of Elections, 1-10-2813.  The issue is whether the statewide candidates of the Constitution Party will be on the ballot.  Under the ruling of the lower court, the party has 24,920 valid signatures, and it needs 25,000.

One issue in the appeal is whether to count the 82 otherwise valid signatures collected by Rosanna Pulido.  The lower court did not count them because Pulido was a candidate for U.S. House in the February 2010 Republican primary.  The law is ambiguous on whether someone who was involved with a primary petition is free to circulate for a different office, for an unqualified party, in the general election.  In the past, the law prohibited individuals from circulating both types of petition, but the law has changed since then.  Also, earlier this year another State Appeals Court ruled that Steven Rauschenberger could be a Republican nominee for State Senate this year even though he had voted in a Democratic primary in 2009.

Another issue in the case is whether to re-validate 94 signatures that the lower court did not validate, given serious due process problems that made it difficult for the Constitution Party to show that those 94 signatures are valid.  To read briefs in the case, see a special web page set up by the Constitution Party, http://objections.runrandyrun.com.  See here for the party’s appeal brief.  Thanks to Russell Van Zandt for this news.

On October 1, Rassmussen Reports released this poll.  It asked voters how they think of themselves.  34.6% self-identify as Democrats; 33.1% as Republicans; and 32.3% as neither.  Thanks to Bill Van Allen for the link.

Since 1987, the Commission on Presidential Debates has been the only group that has held general election presidential debates in which the major party nominees have been willing to participate.  The Commission receives support from large for-profit corporations, and these corporations are permitted to deduct deductions from federal income taxes.

On September 30, Congress unanimously passed S.3196, which will apparently be the first law to mention the Commission on Presidential Debates.  The bill provides certain presidential candidates with office space and equipment and security clearances, before the general election.  Specifically, nominees of parties that polled at least 25% of the presidential vote in the last election receive this assistance within three days after they are formally nominated.  Other presidential candidates are also potentially eligible, if they are on the ballot in enough states to theoretically win the election, and if the Administrator of the General Services Administration believes the other candidate “has demonstrated a significant level of public support in national public opinion polls, so as to be realistically considered among the principle contenders for President.”  To help the Administrator decide, the bill says he or she should “consider whether other national organizations have recognized the candidate as being among the principle contenders for the general election, including whether the Commission on Presidential Debates has determined that the candideate is eligible to participate in the candidate debates for the general election.”

It does not follow logically that the Commission on Presidential Debates shall forever into the future limit its debates to candidates who have a realistic chance of being elected.  But because the Commission will now be mentioned in federal law, with a legal presumption that it will stick to that policy, it will be even more difficult than ever to persuade the Commission to liberalize its criteria.  The Commission in recent presidential years has required a candidate to be at 15% in polls in order to be invited into the debates.  Thanks to Dan Tokaji for this news.

The bill had been introduced by Senator Ted Kaufman of Delaware.  When he introduced the bill, he said on the floor of Congress, “Third party candidates will be eligible if they meet the same criteria used by the Commission on Presidential Debates to participate in general election debates.”