The blog Fire Dog Lake has this blog post advocating a Progressive Party for the United States.
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Charles R. Earl, a former Republican member of the Ohio legislature, is running in the Ohio Libertarian primary for Secretary of State. The primary is in May and Earl almost certainly will be the only candidate seeking the Libertarian Party’s nomination for Secretary of State. Thanks to Kevin Knedler for this news. Earl was elected to the State House in 1982 and served one term.
Joe Schwarz says he will decide by March 1 whether to be an independent candidate for Governor of Michigan. See this story. He was a Republican State Senator 1987-2002, and he only left the legislature because of term limits. He was elected to Congress in the 7th district in 2004. He was defeated for re-election in the Republican primary in 2006. Schwarz is pro-choice and his primary opponent, Tim Walberg, is pro-life. Democrats won the 7th district in 2008.
Michigan has never had an independent candidate for Governor on a government-printed ballot. Michigan did not permit independent candidates to get on the ballot for any office until 1988. Other states that have never had an independent candidate for Governor on a government-printed ballot are Delaware, Hawaii, Indiana, Montana, New Mexico, North Carolina, and South Carolina.
If Schwarz runs, he will be disadvantaged by Michigan’s straight-ticket device and ballot format. Independent candidates do not get a party column of their own, or a logo, and they can’t take advantage of the straight-ticket device that parties enjoy. All independent candidates are squeezed into the same column. Thanks to Peter Gemma for this news.
The Los Angeles Times of February 1 has this editorial, arguing that the U.S. Supreme Court should decide Doe v Reed in favor of the state of Washington. The issue is whether Washington state should turn over the names and addresses of people who sign referendum petitions to people who want to put those names and addresses on a web page.
The editorial says that unlike voting, signing a petition takes place in public. The weakness in that argument is that signing a petition does not necessarily take place in public. Some petitions are circulated among like-minded groups, at meetings of such groups. Not all petition signatures are gathered in public spaces. Also there is a big difference between having one’s signature and address seen by, at most, 20 people who sign the same sheet below the signature of a voter who wishes privacy, and having one’s signature and address posted to a web page. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.
Illinois Representative Elaine Nekritz (D-Northbrook) has introduced HB 4964, the move the Illinois primary from the first week in February, back to the third week in March. Currently, Illinois is about to hold the earliest congressional primary in midterm years (February 2, 2010) in U.S. history.
Representative Nekritz also introduced HB 5039, to move the petition deadline for candidates running in primaries from 92 days before the primary, to 102 days before the primary. All candidates qualify for partisan primary ballots in Illinois with petitions, and elections officials are having trouble processing petitions, especially challenged petitions, with a deadline that is 3 months before the primary. It is likely that some Illinois state legislator will soon introduce a bill to set up a filing fee procedure alternative for candidates running in primaries.
If the Illinois legislature passes HB 5039, but not HB 4964, Illinois candidates in partisan primaries will need to file petitions in October of the odd year before the election. In other words, to run in an election, primary candidates will need to have completed a petition 13 months before the general election. See this story.