| Page 5206

North Carolina 3-Party Debate for U.S. Senate

Posted on June 26, 2010 by adminJune 26, 2010

The North Carolina Bar Association sponsored a U.S. Senate debate held on June 26, and all three ballot-listed candidates participated. See this story. Michael Beitler, the Libertarian nominee, is apparently the first Libertarian Senate nominee in North Carolina to have debated both his or her major party opponents. He is a teacher at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

Every U.S. Senate election in North Carolina starting in 1992 has had three candidates on the ballot, a Democrat, a Republican, and a Libertarian.

Bill in Congress for Public Funding Now Has 156 Co-Sponsors

Posted on June 26, 2010 by adminJune 26, 2010

HR 1826, the bill in the U.S. House of Representatives to provide for public funding for congressional candidates, now has 156 co-sponsors. It gained three co-sponsors during the last two weeks. No other election law bill pending in Congress has gained any co-sponsors during June.

Louisiana Governor Signs November-December Congressional Election Bill

Posted on June 25, 2010 by adminJune 25, 2010

On June 25, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal signed HB 292. It ends partisan primaries for Congressional elections. All candidates for Congress will run on a single primary ballot in November. Usually someone gets over 50%, and there is no other election. But if no one gets 50%, there will be a runoff in mid-December.

Colorado State Court Says Secretary of State Can’t Invalidate Signatures Based on Which Candidate Submitted Petition First

Posted on June 25, 2010 by adminJune 25, 2010

On June 25, a Colorado State District Court put Jennifer Coken on the Democratic primary ballot for State House, 4th district. Her petition had been invalidated because the Secretary of State had ruled that she didn’t have enough valid signatures. But, the Judge restored signatures of voters who had signed Coken’s petition, and had also signed a petition for one of her opponents.

The Secretary of State had credited the signatures of voters who had signed both petitions to Coken’s opponent, because the opponent had submitted her petitions first. But, the judge said there is no statutory authority to do that.

The judge also restored some signatures that had been invalidated because her circulator had moved during the petitioning process. See this story. The Secretary of State plans to appeal to the State Supreme Court.

Wyoming Constitution Party Petition Lacks 388 Valid Signatures

Posted on June 25, 2010 by adminJune 25, 2010

The Constitution Party petition for ballot access in Wyoming was due June 1, and it needed 4,988 valid signatures. The Secretary of State has checked the petition and says the party only submitted 4,600 valid signatures. The raw number of signatures submitted was 6,276.

If the petition had succeeded, this would have been the first time the Constitution Party had been on the ballot as a party in Wyoming. The Green Party has never been on in Wyoming. The law requires a number of signatures equal to 2% of the last U.S. House vote.

The only ballot-qualified party in Wyoming now, other than the Democratic and Republican Parties, is the Libertarian Party, which has been on continuously starting in 1994 because the Libertarian Party always meets the 2% vote test to remain on.