On September 8, a lower state court in Thurston County, Washington, said the Referendum petition against the state’s domestic partners law is valid, even though on many petition sheets, the circulators did not sign that sheet. Also, many petiton signatures were valid even though the signers did not register until after they had signed. Washington Families Standing Together v Reed. The decision is being appealed.
On September 9, Massachusetts Treasurer Thomas Cahill, as expected, declared his independent candidacy for Governor. See this article. He had been elected as a Democrat in 2006 but had changed his registration to “independent” a few months ago. The last time someone other than a Democrat or Republican placed second for Governor of Massachusetts was 1913, when the Progressive Party nominee for Governor, Charles Sumner Bird, placed ahead of the Republican nominee. Bird got 27.7%, losing to the Democratic nominee Thomas Walsh, who got 39.8%.
On September 8, the California legislature passed AB 6, which requires anyone who pays initiative circulators to register with the Secretary of State and pay a fee. The Secretary of State will determine the amount of the fee.
AB 1396, which deregulates the Democratic Party, passed the Senate on September 4 unanimously, but must still pass the Assembly again because the Senate amended it.
Three bills were introduced this year to amend the California Constitution to provide for an indirect initiative. One of those bills still survives and could pass, although it needs a two-thirds vote. It is SCA 16, by Senator Mark DeSaulnier. An indirect initiative provides that after an initiative qualifies, or even if it partially completes its qualfiying petition, the legislature has a chance to amend it. DeSaulnier’s bill provides for this process if the proponents have obtained the signatures of 3% of the last gubernatorial vote. Under existing law, statutory initiatives need 5%. Then, after the proponents collect signatures equal to 3%, the legislature can change the proposal and pass it. If the proponents don’t like the changes, they can continue to collect more signatures and the original idea goes on the ballot for a popular vote.
The other two indirect initiative bills, ACA 13 and SCA 10, were put in the suspense file by their own authors earlier.
AB 1121, to let ten non-charter cities or counties use Instant Runoff Voting for their own elections, will get a second vote in the Senate on September 10. Last week it got a 19-19 vote in the State Senate, but the Senate is permitting another vote this week.
On Wednesday, September 9, the Libertarian Party candidates for the countywide executive posts of Suffolk County, New York, filed a lawsuit in state court, seeking to sbow that they do have enough valid signatures. The candidates petitioned for County Treasurer, District Attorney, and Sheriff. If the petition challenge is not overturned in court, the voters of Suffolk County, one of the most populous counties in New York state, will face one-candidate elections for those offices. All five of the qualified parties of New York nominated or cross-endorsed the incumbents. The case is Kosin v Geier.
The Jurist, organ of the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, has this article about the August 27 decision in Green Party of Connecticut v Garfield, the decision that said public funding laws must not severely discriminate on the basis of a candidate’s party or independent status.
