On October 8, a poll taken by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research was released for the New Jersey gubernatorial race. It shows independent candidate Chris Daggett at his highest poll result so far, 14%. Jon Corzine, Democrat, leads with 41%; Chris Christie, Republican, has 38%; other or undecided 7%.
On October 8, the U.S. House passed S.1390, the Defense Authorization bill. It includes the Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment Act, which requires states in federal elections to mail absentee ballots to overseas voters by 45 days before the election. The bill now goes back to the Senate.
On October 8, U.S. District Court Judge William E. Smith, a Bush, Jr. appointee, issued an injunction against a law that says voters may only sign one nominating petition for each office. The effect of the ruling is to place Hipolito Fontes on the non-partisan ballot for Mayor of Central Falls, Rhode Island. The election is November 3, 2009.
Central Falls says candidates for Mayor need 200 signatures, and voters may only sign for one candidate. When a voter signs two petitions for the same office, that signature counts for the candidate who submitted the petition first. The case is Fontes v City of Central Falls, 09-437. Here is the order.
The opinion says the law “is not necessary to further the government’s state interests in reducing ballot clutter or in demonstrating a candidate’s support in the community…Defendants have failed to offer any evidence demonstrating how the first to file rule eliminates chaos and clutter in elections.”
All the briefs have now been filed in Daien v Ysursa, in U.S. District Court in Idaho. The case challenges Idaho’s ban on out-of-state petition circulators. It also challenges Idaho’s law that requires an independent presidential candidate to collect six times as many signatures as are needed for a statewide independent candidate for office other than president. Here is Daien’s brief; here is the State’s brief. Both were filed on October 2.
The plaintiff, Donald Daien, lives in Arizona and he wants to be able to petition for an independent or minor party presidential candidate in 2012 who shares his political views. In the past, Daien has been a volunteer petitioner in many states for Ralph Nader.
A Canadian poll, released October 8, asks Canadian voters, “If a federal election were held tomorrow, which party would you vote for?” The results: Conservative 39.7%, Liberal 25.7%, New Democratic 15.2%, Green 9.7%, Bloc Quebecois 9.7%. See this story.
Traditionally, Canadian federal election debates are held between the leaders of each party that has at least one seat in Parliament. The Green Party has been fighting for years to get into these debates, but it has only succeeded once, because it has never elected anyone to Parliament (Canada does not use Proportional Representation). But these results should bolster the party’s case for entry into the debates. No federal election has been called yet, but one is likely fairly soon.
