When the Oklahoma legislature convenes in January 2010, it will consider HB 1072, which lowers the number of signatures for a political party to get on the ballot. The bill has already passed overwhelmingly in both houses, but because the two houses passed different versions, the bill hasn’t passed yet. This progress had been made possible because OBAR (Oklahoma Ballot Access Reform) hired a professional lobbyist. However, it is always a struggle paying for the lobbyist.

Leaders of the Constitution Party have initiated a fundraising event near Oklahoma City on August 13 for OBAR. The event is non-partisan and is hosted by Free & Equal, but Constitution Party activists have done much of the work. Chuck Baldwin, the party’s presidential candidate, will be the keynote speaker. Also speaking will be Oklahoma State Senator Randy Brogdon (co-sponsor of the ballot access bill in the Senate) and Christina Tobin, founder of Free & Equal.

The dinner costs $50, and will be held between 6:30 pm and 9:00 pm. For tickets, contact Thom Holmes before August 10 at 918-866-2256 or holmesta@hotmail.com. The location is the Joyner Room at the Sheraton Hotel/Reed Conference Center in Midwest City, Oklahoma. The exact address is 5750 Will Rogers Road, Midwest City, 405-455-1800.

Mainstream media in New England is giving considerable publicity to Lincoln Chaffee’s independent candidacy for Rhode Island Governor in 2010. Here is an article from the Boston Globe about Chaffee, dated July 19. Also on July 31, newspapers reported that campaign spending reports show that he raised $171,000 in the last three months and spent $38,000.

Democrats expected to seek the Rhode Island Governorship in 2010 include the Attorney General, Patrick Lynch, who hasn’t reported his campaign receipts yet; and the State Treasurer, Frank Caprio, who reported receipts of $211,000, which gives him a campaign warchest of $1,400,000. It is not yet clear which Republicans will run.

It is conceivable that Chaffee (who was a Republican U.S. Senator between 1999 and 2007) will be the gubernatorial candidate of the Moderate Party in 2010, although none of the recent publicity talks about that idea. If he were the nominee of a qualified political party, he would have a better position on the November ballot than if he were an independent candidate. The Moderate Party is not ballot-qualified yet, but expects to be soon.

On July 31, the Ohio Supreme Court unanimously ruled that one particular initiative should appear on the 2010 ballot. The 8-page decision is here. The case is State ex rel Scioto Downs v Brunner, 2009-3761.

The Secretary of State had certified an initiative, providing for casinos in four Ohio cities, for the ballot. Opponents had then sued to overturn her decision, and had claimed that one of the circulators was an ex-felon and that other circulators had listed their address as hotels or various nonresidential addresses. The decision says that the ex-felon had only submitted 19 signatures, and also says that other charges are insufficient to disturb the determination that at least 402,275 signatures were submitted.