On February 1, the trial began in Pennsylvania, in the criminal case filed by the Attorney General against some employees of the state legislature. They are charged with using state resources to work on partisan campaigns, including the challenge to Ralph Nader’s 2004 petition, and the 2006 Green Party statewide petition. See this story.
On September 1, a New Jersey Superior Court issued a lengthy opinion, upholding the use of vote-counting electronic machines that have no paper trail. Gusciora v Corzine, L-2691-04, Mercer County. The decision does require New Jersey elections officials to harden guidelines for anti-virus software, to prevent vote-counting computers from ever being connected to the internet, to improve seals on the machines, and to review procedures on preventing anyone from tampering with the machines while they are in storage or in transit.
New Jersey has already changed its law to require a paper trail, but the state hasn’t implemented the new law yet. Thanks to John Paff and John Carbone for this news.
The blog Fire Dog Lake has this blog post advocating a Progressive Party for the United States.
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.
