On April 22, the Hawaii legislature’s conference committee for HB 2397 hammered out a final version of the bill. It moves the primary from mid-September to mid-August, and takes effect in 2011. The petition to qualify a new political party moves from early April to early March.
On April 23, the Republican National Committee filed this request with the U.S. Supreme Court, asking the Court to hear Republican National Committee v Federal Election Commission. The case concerns the limit of $30,400 on how much individuals may contribute to an FEC-recognized political party.
The party is not asking that the limit be totally invalidated, just that it be invalidated when the money is going for activities that have nothing to do with federal candidates. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.
On March 8, New York U.S. House member Eric Massa resigned from his position. He had been elected from the 29th district in November 2008. That is the district in the southwestern corner of the state. Massa was a Democrat.
Since then, New York officials have said they will leave the seat empty until it can be filled in November 2010, because a special election would cost too much money. Under the Constitution, a House seat cannot be filled in any way except by a vote of the people. See this story, which says that a lawsuit to force a special election will be filed next week.
New Mexico holds its primaries on June 1. On April 21, the New Mexico Supreme Court ordered that Kerby Johnson, a candidate for Magistrate in Aztec, be restored to the Democratic ballot. The Court said it would explain later. Johnson’s petition had been challenged, but the challengers had not served him personally. Instead, they had postally mailed notice of their challenge to him. The basis for the decision, restoring his name to the ballot, is that he should have been served personally. See this story.
On April 23, the California Secretary of State released new registration data, as of April 9, 2010. For a county-by-county breakdown, and state totals for each party, see here.
The previous registration tally had been as of January 5, 2010. Since then, the percentage of voters registered in the Democratic Party, and the Reform Party, has declined (the Reform Party is not ballot-qualified, but it is by far the largest unqualified party). Also, compared to January 5, the number of registered independents has declined. All the qualified parties except the Democratic Party increased their share.
This paragraph lists the qualified parties, with the January 2010 percentage first, and the April 2010 figure next:
Democratic: 44.62%, 44.57%
Republican: 30.75%; 30.79%
American Independent: 2.26%, 2.31%
Green: .659%, .664%
Libertarian: .499%, .506%
Peace & Freedom: .325%, .333%
Independents were 20.18% in January, and are now at 20.14%. Members of unqualified parties (including the Reform Party) were at .70% in January, and are now at .69%.
