The Kentucky Senate State and Local Government Committee holds a hearing on Wednesday, January 13, on SB 53. The bill requires political parties that hold primaries to let independent voters vote in those primaries. In Kentucky, only parties that polled at least 20% of the last presidential vote are entitled to primaries. Parties that polled at least 2% for President, but under 20%, nominate by convention. The bill doesn’t have any provision about parties that nominate by convention.
Gregg Jocoy has this eye-witness account of the oral argument in the South Carolina Supreme Court in the Green Party’s ballot access case. It is posted at Green Party Watch.
New Hampshire is one of four states that has recently refused to let an unqualified party circulate a petition for a presidential candidate, using a stand-in. The other states are Maine, Massachusetts, and Alabama. The Libertarian Party sued New Hampshire over this policy in 2008, in federal court. The case has moved slowly and had been set for a trial, to start February 11, 2010. However, the magistrate in that case has determined that there is no need for a trial, because there are no disputed facts, so the case will not need a trial. The case is Libertarian Party of New Hampshire v Gardner, 08-cv-367. A decision will be rendered based on briefs already filed, so a decision could come at any time.
Last year, a U.S. District Court in Massachusetts ruled in favor of the Libertarian Party, in a very similar case. Massachusetts has appealed that decision, and briefs are about to be filed in the First Circuit. The Libertarian Party also won a similar case against Florida in 1996.
Some states have never been asked if they will permit a stand-in on a presidential petition. In some states, there is no need for a stand-in, because the state has a party petition procedure. A party petition procedure enables a group to petition for a place on the ballot before it has chosen any nominees, so the problem doesn’t arise.
The January 8 issue of the Glenwood, Colorado Post Independent has this editorial in support of a bill in the Colorado legislature to ease the prior disaffiliation law for independent candidate ballot access. Colorado does not let an independent candidate on the ballot if he or she has been a registered member of a qualified party at any time in the 17 months before the general election. Thanks to Nancy Hanks of The Hankster for the link.
The Denver Post had a similar editorial a few days ago.
Several Washington state representatives have introduced HB 2418, which says that every initiative and referendum petition sheet must say at the top, “Signature petitions are public documents. By signing this document, your name, address, and signature may be released as part of a public records request.”
The bill’s authors didn’t include petitions to put minor party or independent presidential candidates on the November ballot in the scope of their bill. However, it is already existing policy in Washington state that all petitions are public records. It seems somewhat inconsistent that the bill includes some types of petitions, but not other types.
If the U.S. Supreme Court accepts the case Doe v Reed and then issues an opinion that petitions signers are entitled to secrecy, then the bill will be meaningless.
