Over the weekend, the California Progress Report carried this commentary in opposition to the California ballot measure for the “top-two open primary”, and the San Bernardino Sun carried this one.
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The Working Families Party has filed its paperwork in Vermont to be a ballot-qualified minor party. There are now Working Families on the ballot in six states. The other five are Connecticut, Delaware, New York, Oregon, and South Carolina (the party in Connecticut is ballot-qualified for some offices, including all five U.S. House seats, but not for any statewide offices).
Cecil Bothwell, a new member of the Asheville, North Carolina city council, says he is an atheist. The North Carolina Constitution bars atheists from holding public office. Newspapers around the U.S. are covering the issue. Here is a story from Texas (which mentions that the Texas Constitution has a similar provision), and here is one from California.
On December 17, Bill O’Reilly and the two guests on his Fox News TV show discussed ballot access laws, within a larger discussion of whether conservatives should support a third party, the TEA (Taxed Enough Already) Party. Here is the transcript. The two guests were Ned Ryun and Mike Gallagher.
On November 12, New Hampshire State Senator Theodore Gatsas resigned his seat in the New Hampshire Senate, because he had just been elected Mayor of Manchester. Shortly afterwards, the New Hampshire Executive Council said there will be a special election to fill that empty seat on February 16. It said that any independent candidate petitions for that race would be due January 12.
Joseph R. Hoell decided to run in that election with the ballot label “Constitution Party”. He needs 750 valid signatures. The New Hampshire independent petition for State Senate is one of the most difficult in the nation, even in regular elections, when candidates have approximately six months to get their signatures. A typical New Hampshire State Senate district cast about 26,000 votes for President in November 2008, so 750 signatures is about 2.5% of the active electorate. The only states with a higher percentage for that office, for independent candidates, are Georgia, North Carolina, California, Illinois, and North Dakota.
Last year the New Hampshire election code was amended to say that independent candidate petitions may only be circulated in even-numbered years. However, on December 10, the New Hampshire Secretary of State said that law doesn’t apply to special elections, even though the law itself doesn’t specify any exception for special elections. Thanks to Ken Blevins for this news.