New York, and half the other states, permit independent candidates to choose a partisan label that may be printed on the ballot next to the independent candidate’s name. The other states confine independent candidates to just the word “independent.”

In 2005, Jimmy McMillan ran as an independent candidate for Mayor of New York city, with the ballot label “Rent is Too Damn High.” This year, McMillan again petitioned successfully for a place on the ballot, and he asked for the same label. But the New York City Board of Elections told him his label cannot be longer than 15 letters. When he didn’t respond, the Board on its own motion printed “Rent is Too High.” McMillan is asking the Board to change that to “Rent is 2 Damn High”, but since the absentee ballots have already been printed, the Board will probably refuse to alter the label. See this New York Times story.

The Uniform Law Commission, which has existed since 1892, is weighing whether it should back a proposed state law that would tell presidential electors that they must vote for their party’s presidential and vice-presidential nominees, when those electors vote in December of presidential election years. The Commission held its first meeting on this proposal in July 2009 in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The second meeting will be in Chicago, December 4-5.

For those who are interested in this process, see this web page, which has the Commission’s draft proposal, and the memorandum prepared by Professor Robert Bennett, who is an expert on the electoral college, and also a list of the committee members who are considering the proposal. The proposal says that if an elector votes against his or her party’s national convention choices for President or Vice-President, the elector is deemed to have resigned, and shall be replaced by the other electors. The proposal is based on a North Carolina law.

The Uniform Law Commission has a transcript of the remarks made on this subject at the Santa Fe meeting, but it prefers not to post the transcript. However, at that meeting, there was a lively discussion as to whether there is a role for independent judgment for presidential electors. Commissioners discussed the usefulness of giving independent judgment to presidential electors in various situations. One of those situations concerned what electors should do if a presidential or vice-presidential candidate dies after the November election but before the mid-December vote of the electoral college. Another situation discussed was what electors should do if a presidential or vice-presidential nominee became seriously ill during that period. Still another situation was what electors should do if it were revealed after the November election, but before the electoral college meets, that one of the presidential or vice-presidential candidates was revealed to have a major character flaw during that period. The discussion in Chicago in December will probably be very interesting. Uniform Law Commission meetings are open to the public.

On October 6, Raymond B. Harding, former leader of the New York Liberal Party, plead guilty to receiving $800,000 from a state pension fund, in exchange for favors done for New York state’s former Controller. See this New York Times story. The Liberal Party went off the ballot in November 2002, after having been on every statewide ballot in the state starting in 1944. Thanks to Bill Van Allen for this news.