Fifteen Candidates File for U.S. Senate in West Virginia Primaries

Posted on by July 23, 2010
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Filing for candidates running for U.S. Senate in West Virginia this year closed on July 23, for candidates seeking the primary nomination of one of the three ballot-qualified parties.  Three candidates filed in the Democratic primary, eleven filed in the Republican primary, and one, Jesse Johnson, in the Mountain Party primary.  The primary is August 28.  Here is the list of candidates.

Candidates of unqualified parties, and independent candidates, get on the November 2 ballot by filing 1,784 valid signatures by August 23, and paying the $1,740 filing fee.

Trial Date Set in Idaho Republican Party Case Over Open Primary

Posted on by July 23, 2010
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A U.S. District Court in Idaho will hold a 4-day trial in Idaho Republican Party v Ysursa, 08-cv-165, starting October 12, 2010.   This is the case in which the Republican Party is attempting to find some way to prevent voters who are not in sympathy with the party from voting in its primaries.  The trial will feature testimony from political scientists on both sides.

Oregon Lawsuit Filed Over Validity of Initiative Petitions

Posted on by July 23, 2010
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Proponents of an Oregon initiative, to require non-partisan redistricting, have filed a state court lawsuit over the Secretary of State’s procedures for checking signatures.  The Secretary of State is invalidating entire petition sheets, if even one signature on the petition carries a date that seems to be outside the date range for that sheet.

Generally when signers of petitions are required to fill in the date of signing, they use all numerals.  Thus, August 6, 2010 is typically indicated “8/6/2010.”  But many people nowadays use the European system of indicating a date.  In Europe, and increasingly in the United States, people put the date first, and then the month, and then the year, for example “6/8/2010.”  If even one person shows a date that way, under the Secretary of State’s procedures, the entire sheet is eliminated.  The lawsuit hopes for a ruling that invalidation of the entire sheet is contrary to state law.  Thanks to BallotBoxNews for the news about this lawsuit.  The case is Derfler v Brown, 10-c-18408, Circuit Court, 3rd district (Salem), filed July 21, 2010.

Kansas Formally Agrees that its Out-of-State Circulator Ban is Unconstitutional

Posted on by July 23, 2010
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On July 20, the Kansas Attorney General and attorneys for the Constitution Party filed a joint brief in U.S. District Court, arguing that the Kansas ban on out-of-state circulators is unconstitutional.  The case is Constitution Party of Kansas v Biggs, 10-4043-SAC.

It is now expected that U.S. District Court Judge Sam Crow will issue an opinion, mirroring the points in the brief and holding the law unconstitutional.  Kansas state officials feel that they cannot hope to prevail, so by agreeing with plaintiffs, that saves the state additional litigation expenses.  Kansas is in the 10th circuit, and in 2008 the 10th circuit ruled in an Oklahoma case that bans on out-of-state circulators are unconstitutional.

The other issue in the case remains unsettled.  That is whether Kansas must let voters register into parties that are not ballot-qualified.  The Constitution Party is not ballot-qualified in Kansas, but it is organized, and its members would like to be able to register into the Constitution Party.  The Kansas voter registration form has a checkbox for each of the four qualified parties, and no write-in line, so voters must either choose independent status, or they must say they are members of the Democratic, Republican, Libertarian or Reform Parties, on their voter registration forms.