The May 13 print issue of the San Jose Mercury News has this op-ed by Michael Feinstein, a leader of the Green Party and a former Mayor of Santa Monica.
The Los Angeles Times is now the only big newspaper in California that has endorsed Proposition 14 and that has not carried any op-ed opposing Proposition 14 during the last twelve months. That newspaper has rejected at least ten submissions during that time.
On May 12, a U.S. District Court Judge ordered Monterey County, California, to stop preparations for a special election to fill the vacant State Senate seat in the 15th district. See this story. The lawsuit had been filed under the Voting Rights Act. Monterey County is under section 5 of the Act. On May 20 a 3-judge court will hear the case, which alleges that the date set for the special election, June 22 (only two weeks after California’s primary) is a “change” that should have been cleared with the Justice Department. All such cases require 3 judges. The case is Buell v Monterey County, 10-cv-01952. One of the changes the county made (according to the complaint) is that it plans fewer polling stations in the special election than ordinarily. The complaint says the county should have received permission from the Justice Department before reducing the number of polling places.
Four states hold partisan primary elections next week: Arkansas, Kentucky, Oregon, and Pennsylvania.
In Kentucky, the only statewide race is the U.S. Senate race. Attention is focused on the Republican primary. In a five-person race, Rand Paul has a 16-point lead over Kentucky Secretary of State Trey Grayson. See poll details at this link. Paul, the son of Congressman Ron Paul, is very aware of unfair ballot access laws for minor party and independent candidates. In 1988, he worked in his father’s Libertarian Party campaign for President.
Ron Paul was treated badly by several states in 1988, notably Missouri, North Carolina, West Virginia, and Indiana. In Missouri the petition was deemed valid but Paul still didn’t appear on the ballot, because the nominees for presidential elector were turned in a few days after the deadline (that same year, Democrats and Republicans both made an identical error in Indiana, but Indiana excused the error).
The number of signatures was excessive for Paul that year in both Indiana (30,950) and North Carolina (44,535). Indiana even refused to permit write-ins, although Paul sued Indiana to overturn the write-in ban and won the case in 1990. In West Virginia, which required 7,358, petitioners were forced to tell everyone they approached, “If you sign my petition, you can’t vote in the primary” and state employees sometimes trailed petitioners to listen to what they said.
If Rand Paul is elected to the Senate, he will be the first candidate elected to a full term in the Senate who cares about ballot access, and is knowledgeable about it, in many decades. Although ballot access reform bills have been introduced into the U.S. House in ten different sessions of Congress during the past 25 years, no such bill has ever been introduced in the U.S. Senate.
On May 11, Georgia held two special elections for State Senate. Libertarians ran in both races. Although Libertarians aren’t on the ballot for district office, in special elections, Georgia does not require anyone to submit a petition; candidates just pay a filing fee. Parties do not have nominees, but party labels are on the ballot.
In the 42nd district, four candidates ran: Democrat Jason Carter 65.6%; Democrat Tom Stubbs 23.0%; Libertarian David Montana 7.5%; independent Steve Patrick 3.9%. When this district last voted, in November 2008, the results had been: Democratic 80.9%; Republican 19.1%.
In the 49th district, three candidates ran: Republican Butch Miller 77.6%; Republican Jimmy Norman 14.3%; Libertarian Brandon Givens 8.1%. When this district had last voted, in November 2008, only one Republican had appeared on the ballot.
Article I, section 6, of the U.S. Constitution says, “No Senator or Representative shall, during the Time for which he was elected, be appointed to any civil Office under the Authority of the United States…the Emolument whereof shall have been encreased during the such time.”
The salary of Secretary of State was increased while Secretary Clinton was a U.S. Senator. A foreign service officer, David Rodearmel, filed a lawsuit, claiming that because Clinton had been a Senator when the salary of the Secretary of State was increased, therefore she is not eligible to be Secretary of State. Rodearmel lost in the lower court and asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear his case. The government’s response had been due on February 4, but the goverment asked the Court for three separate extensions of time in which to respond. The government’s response is finally filed. The brief says that Rodearmel doesn’t have standing, but that even if he did, the provision is ambiguous. The government says that because Congress lowered the salary of Secretary of State just as Clinton was sworn in, there is no constitutional barrier to her being Secretary of State. Thanks to Bill Van Allen for the link.
