The Libertarian Party of New Jersey intends to nominate a candidate for Governor at a meeting of the executive committee, to be held on April 26. The party will then need 800 valid signatures to get that nominee on the November 2009 ballot.
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On April 21, the Constitution, Green, and Libertarian Parties filed a federal lawsuit against certain Pennsylvania election laws. The Constitution Party of Pennsylvania, et al v Cortes, no. 09-1691, eastern district. It challenges (1) the law that says only parties with registration membership of 15% are entitled to have their nominees placed on the November ballot automatically; (2) the Pennsylvania practice of forcing petitioning candidates and parties to run the risk that they will be exposed to tens of thousands of dollars in court costs if their petitions are rejected; (3) Pennsylvania practice of not providing a state tally for most write-in candidates, and the practice of certain counties of never counting any write-in votes.
The 15% registration threshold is so severe, if it were law in Utah, the Democratic Party would need to petition for all its nominees; if it were law in the District of Columbia, or Massachusetts, or Rhode Island, the Republican Party would need to petition for all its nominees. Although the 15% registration test was nominally upheld in a 1993 U.S. District Court decision, that case introduced no evidence about the 15% registration test.
Most states that permit write-in votes count all the write-ins, for write-in candidates who declared their intention to be write-in candidates in advance of the election. Pennsylvania has no such procedure as a write-in filing declaration. Pennsylvania law plainly requires elections officials to count and tally all write-ins, but that law is routinely ignored. After the November 2008 election, Pennsylvania state officials refused to tally the write-ins for Cynthia McKinney. Although some counties did count them, others did not. Here is a link to the complaint.
On April 21, the Nevada Assembly passed HB 413, the National Popular Vote Plan bill. The vote was 27-14.
On April 20, the Oklahoma Senate passed HB 1072, which lowers the petition for a previously unqualified party from 5% of the last vote cast, to 3% of the last gubernatorial vote. The vote was unanimous.
Although the bill had passed the House earlier, the House version is 5% of the last gubernatorial vote, so the bill must go to a conference committee. Thanks to Richard Prawdzienski for this good news. 3% of the 2006 gubernatorial vote is 27,794 signatures.
On April 21, the Illinois State Board of Elections notified the U.S. Supreme Court that it does not plan to file a brief in Stevo v Keith. If the state were to file such a brief, the brief would explain why the Court should not hear the case. Generally, appellees don’t bother to file such briefs with the U.S. Supreme Court. If the Court wants such a brief, the Court will notify Illinois to please file one. Stevo v Keith is the lawsuit challenging the number of signatures needed for an independent candidate for U.S. House. The 7th circuit had upheld the law and Stevo is appealing to the U.S. Supreme Court. The case number is 08-1187.