On June 23, Delaware HB 425 passed the Senate Administration/Elections Committee. The bill had already passed the House. It reinstates the old, more lenient definition of “Political Party” for 2010 only.
Earlier this year, the legislature had passed a bill doubling the number of registrants that a party needs to be on the ballot, from about 300 members, to about 600. HB 425 says that the new, tougher requirement should not be in force until 2011.
On June 23, U.S. District Court Judge Marcia S. Krieger, a Bush Jr. appointee, upheld Colorado’s law that bars independent candidates (for office other than President) from being on the November ballot if they were a member of an qualified party at any time in the year before the filing deadline. Here is the 25-page opinion.
This means that the two plaintiff-candidates, La Plata County Commissioner Joelle Riddle, and state legislator Kathleen Curry, cannot run for re-election as independent candidates this year unless they run as write-in candidates.
Colorado eased the ballot access restriction this year, but made the change effective next year. Riddle changed her registration from “Democratic” to “independent” on August 21, 2009, and Curry changed her registration from “Democratic” to “independent” on December 28, 2009. The new law, effective 2011, sets the prior affiliation period on January 1 of the election year, so if the new law were effective now, both candidates could be on the ballot this November as independent candidates.
On June 22, the New Mexico Green Party submitted 4,000 signatures for its nominee for U.S. House, First District, but the Secretary of State refused to accept them. The Secretary of State does not agree that the Green Party is ballot-qualified. Litigation over whether it is or isn’t is ongoing. The party’s nominee is Alan Woodruff.
The Alabama Secretary of State has validated the Constitution Party’s petition to be ballot-qualified in the U.S. House First District. The party will now be able to nominate David Walter for that seat.
He will be the first minor party candidate for Congress on the Alabama ballot since 2002.
Filing closed earlier this month in New Jersey for candidates for Congress. For the first time since 1890, there will be no congressional candidates on the ballot with a party label that includes the word “Socialist.”
This year, there are 4 Green Party candidates for U.S. House, 3 Libertarians, and one Constitution Party nominee. New Jersey doesn’t have any statewide races up this year.
