The Conservative Party, a fairly new, nationally-organized party, is holding its first national convention July 22-24. The convention is at the Loews New Orleans Hotel, in New Orleans.
Reply
On April 7, the Louisiana House and Governmental Affairs Committee passed HB 292 unanimously. It would convert Congressional elections from a semi-closed system, to a “top-two” system. The first round would be in November. If no one got a majority in November, the state would hold a run-off in December. The author of HB 292 is Rep. Hunter Greene (R-Baton Rouge).
The Committee also considered HB 1157, by Rep. Cameron Henry. It would have retained partisan elections for Congress, but abolished run-off party primaries. Both bills would have saved money. The Committee chair said the Speaker had told him to advance only one of these two bills, so HB 1157 did not pass. However, it could be revived if HB 292 does not get enacted into law. For more detail, see this story (scroll down).
On April 7, the Louisiana House and Governmental Affairs Committee passed HB 292 unanimously. It would convert Congressional elections from a semi-closed system, to a “top-two” system. The first round would be in November. If no one got a majority in November, the state would hold a run-off in December. The author of HB 292 is Rep. Hunter Greene (R-Baton Rouge).
The Committee also considered HB 1157, by Rep. Cameron Henry. It would have retained partisan elections for Congress, but abolished run-off party primaries. Both bills would have saved money. The Committee chair said the Speaker had told him to advance only one of these two bills, so HB 1157 did not pass. However, it could be revived if HB 292 does not get enacted into law. For more detail, see this story (scroll down).
On April 7, Vermont Governor Jim Douglas announced that he will not veto S. 117, the bill that moves the primary from September to August. Governor Douglas doesn’t approve of the bill, but he is letting it become law without his signature. UPDATE: see this newspaper story about the new law.
The bill moves the deadline for independent candidate petitions from September to June. Even independent presidential candidate petitions are now due in June. Courts in four states have ruled that June deadlines for independent presidential candidate petitions are too early. Those four states are Kansas, Massachusetts, Nevada, and South Dakota. The first three are not reported. The South Dakota decision is reported as Nader v Hazeltine, 110 F.Supp.2d 1201.
In November 2008, the voters of Kinston, North Carolina, voted to convert city elections from partisan to non-partisan. However, the U.S. Justice Department, Voting Rights Section, refused to allow the change.
Now advocates of non-partisan elections have filed a lawsuit in federal court in Washington, D.C., alleging that the Voting Rights Act, Section 5, is unconstitutional. Section 5 is the part of the Voting Rights Act that requires certain states to ask permission from the Voting Rights Section before changing any election law or practice. Most of the states covered by Section 5 are in the South. The voters were free to simply ask the U.S. District Court to overrule the Voting Rights Section, and approve the change from partisan to non-partisan elections. Instead, they are asking that the federal law itself be invalidated. The new case is LaRoque v Holder, 1:10-cv-00561. Thanks to ElectionLawBlog for thisnews.