The New York Times has this article, discussing the ongoing discussion on whether to make New York city elections non-partisan. Over three-fourths of the twenty largest cities in the U.S. have non-partisan elections, including Los Angeles, Chicago, and Houston. The largest city to have partisan elections, other than New York city, is Philadelphia.
On May 15, as expected, the Indiana Democratic Central Committee chose Brad Ellsworth as its nominee for U.S. Senate this year. See this story.
No one appeared on the Indiana Democratic Party primary ballot for U.S. Senate this year, and Indiana does not permit write-ins in primaries. The incumbent, Senator Evan Bayh, had surprised his party and his state when he announced one day before the petition was due that he would not run for re-election. Because virtually no one had expected this action, no one else had collected the needed 4,500 valid signature to be on the primary ballot. Indiana lets qualified major parties find a new nominee when no one was nominated at its primary.
A new political party has been formed. It is called The Practical Party. The webpage, thepracticalparty.com, is at this link. It is attempting to qualify a candidate under its own name in Illinois. The candidate is running for U.S. Senate.
The Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters, with backing from the county Board of Supervisors and the County Counsel, has decided to let voters fill out voter registration forms using electronic signatures. See this May 14 San Jose Mercury News story. Santa Clara County is the most populous county in northern California, and includes not only San Jose, but the other smaller cities in the neighborhood that are collectively known to the world as “Silicon Valley.”
The initial eight voters whose electronic signatures were accepted used iPads, iPhones, and other mobile touch-screen devices. The article indicates that the California Secretary of State acknowledges that each California County Elections office has the authority to make this decision for its own county. Thanks to Blair Bobier for the link.
The Lake Wales News has this story about Randy Wilkinson, the Tea Party candidate for U.S. House in the 12th district. Thanks to Doug Guetzloe for the link. Lake Wales is between Orlando and Tampa.
