According to this news story, Hawaii’s Elections Chief plans to ask the federal government for a waiver (for 2010 only) of the new federal law that requires states to mail foreign absentee ballots at least 45 days before an election. Hawaii has the latest Congressional primary in the nation, and it is obvious that Hawaii can’t mail out its foreign absentee ballots in 2010 at least 45 days before the general election, unless it moves that primary to an earlier date.

Hawaii requires new political parties to submit their petitions at least 5 months before the primary, so an earlier primary in Hawaii will automatically mean an earlier deadline for parties to qualify themselves. However, a good case can be made that Hawaii has no strong interest in requiring such petitions so far in advance of the primary. Hawaii is one of the states that requires newly-qualifying parties to nominate by primary. The state is free to let newly-qualifying parties nominate by convention, as most states do. Alternatively, even if Hawaii wants to continue requiring newly-qualifying parties to nominate by primary, it really isn’t necessary to put the petition deadline five months before that primary. No other state except California requires so much lead time.

The November 9 edition of Ballot Box has this interesting analysis of the Virginia elections of 2009 and 2005 and how the eventual outcome depended partly on a random drawing. The random drawing is held in Virginia to determine which political parties are listed first on general election ballots. The November 9 article is by Josh Goodman. The November 9 essay depends on an earlier analysis by political scientist Larry Sabato, written on August 13, 2009. A link to the earlier Sabato article is within the Goodman piece. Thanks to Peter Gemma for the link.

A U.S. District Court in Long Island, New York, will hear oral arguments in MacKay v Crews, 2:09-cv-02218, on December 4, 2009, Friday, at 11 a.m. The Judge is Joseph F. Bianco, and the courthouse is in Central Islip, New York. This case had originally been filed in state court in New York, but was transferred to federal court earlier this year.

The case originated after a state court in Texas had taken jurisdiction of the national Reform Party’s matters and called a special national convention to settle who the proper officers were. That convention was supervised by a court-appointed special master. It resulted in the election of David Collison as the new national chair. Afterwards, people in the Reform Party who were dissatisfied with that filed a new lawsuit in New York state. The first-named Defendant in the New York case is Kay Crews, who is not a member of the Reform Party but who had been appointed by the Texas court to oversee the national convention.