On June 8, a hearing was held in Solano County Superior Court, California, on the lawsuit over the identity of the state officers of the American Independent Party. The attorney for the faction that nominated Alan Keyes for President in 2008 asked for more time, so there will be another hearing on June 30. The case is King v Robinson, 033119.
Fremont County, Wyoming officials say it is not possible for the county to draw single-member County Commission districts in time for Wyoming’s August 17 primary this year. The County’s at-large system for electing County Commissioners was invalidated by a U.S. District Court Judge several months ago. See this story. The lawsuit had been brought by the ACLU on behalf of Native Americans, who never win at-large elections.
On June 10, Wendell Fant submitted approximately 30,000 signatures to be on the North Carolina ballot as an independent candidate for U.S. House, 8th district. Approximately 17,000 signatures are required in that district. The formula requires 4% of the registered voters of the district to sign. See this story.
If the petition is verified, Fant will be the first independent candidate for U.S. House in the history of North Carolina government-printed ballots, which have existed since 1901. He is backed by the Service Employees International Union and the State Employees Association of North Carolina. Those unions back Fant because the Democratic incumbent, Larry Kissell, voted against the health insurance bill a few months ago. The 8th district is one of the more competitive districts in the nation. In 2006 it elected a Republican, but in 2008 it elected a Democrat. It comprises the counties that are east of Charlotte.
South Carolina held its major party primaries on June 8. Two candidates appeared on the Democratic ballot for U.S. Senate. They were Vic Rawl, a four-term state legislator, and Alvin Greene, a 32-year-old soldier. Virtually every political observer in the state expected Rawls to win. He had a vigorous campaign and was raising money for the general election. Greene had no web page and no visible campaign.
But, Greene won. The Working Families Party, a ballot-qualified party in South Carolina, nominates by convention, as all of South Carolina’s minor parties do. The Working Families Party had held its state convention on May 15, and was so certain that Rawl would be the winner of the Democratic primary, that it had went ahead and nominated Rawl as well. The Working Families Party generally gets itself on the ballot only in states which allow fusion, which is the ability of two parties to jointly nominate the same candidate. The Working Families Party generally nominates people who are also Democratic Party nominees.
South Carolina, although it permits fusion, has a law that says if a party nominates a candidate, and that candidate then tries and fails to get the nomination of another party, the first nomination for that candidate is canceled. So, Rawl not only lost the Democratic nomination; he can’t appear on the November ballot as the Working Families nominee either.
The South Carolina Democratic Party is trying to persuade Greene to withdraw. See this story. However, Greene says he won’t withdraw.
The only other candidates likely to be on the November ballot are the Republican incumbent, Jim DeMint, and the Green Party nominee, Tom Clements.
The Los Angeles Times has this article about California’s Proposition 14, which focuses on some of the flaws in the measure. The story is a surprise, because before the election, everything in the print version of that newspaper was overwhelmingly favorable to the measure.
