John Hospers Attains the Age of 91

Posted on by June 9, 2009
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John Hospers, first Libertarian Party presidential candidate, turned 91 on June 9, 2009. Other presidential candidates in the general election who lived at least that long include Strom Thurmond (100), Ronald Reagan (93), Gerald Ford (93), Frank Zeidler (93), Darlington Hoopes (93), Roger Babson (91), Claude Watson (92). Thanks to Darcy Richardson for that list, which may be incomplete. UPDATE: Darcy also notes Benjamin Spock lived to be 94, Barry Commoner is still living and is 92, and Enoch Holtwick lived to 91.

Hospers is somewhat famous for having received one electoral vote from Virginia, in 1972. He and George Wallace are the only actual minor party or independent presidential candidates who have received an electoral vote in the last 60 years. U.S. Senator Harry Byrd also received electoral votes, but he was never an announced candidate for president, even though his name appeared on the ballot in a few states in 1956 (Byrd got his electoral votes in 1960).

Zeidler and Hoopes were Socialist Party presidential nominees; Babson, Holtwick and Watson were Prohibition Party presidential nominees. Spock was the Peoples Party nominee in 1972 and Commoner the Citizens Party nominee in 1980.

Arizona Election Law Bill Starts to Move

Posted on by June 9, 2009
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Arizona SB 1091 has been assigned to the Senate Judiciary Committee, and will probably have a hearing on June 15. This is the Secretary of State’s omnibus election law bill. The Secretary of State’s amendments propose to ease the out-of-state circulator ban only for independent presidential petitions (the state must make some change, because last year the out-of-state circulator ban was ruled unconstitutional in the 9th circuit).

Under the Secretary of State’s proposal, out-of-state circulators would still be banned if they want to work on independent candidate petitions for office other than president, or if they want to work on petitions to qualify a political party, or to qualify an initiative. It is hoped that people who want the bill expanded will testify that the bill should be amended to legalize out-of-state circulators for all types of petition.

Nader Case Against Democratic National Committee Loses on Statute of Limitations Grounds

Posted on by June 9, 2009
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On June 9, the U.S. Court of Appeals, D.C. Circuit, ruled that Ralph Nader’s lawsuit against the Democratic National Committee for its work to keep him off the ballot in 2004 should have been filed earlier than October 2007. Here is the 19-page opinion. It concludes by saying, “Whatever the Democrats tried to conceal, Nader’s own complaint reveals his constructive knowledge of ‘some evidence of wrongdoing’ by each current defendant more than three years before he filed his suit. Because Nader’s complaint is thus untimely on its face, we affirm on this limitations ground without addressing the district court’s decision or the ultimate merits of Nader’s theory of the case.”

Florida Hometown Democracy Initiative Appears to Qualify, but Distribution Requirement Plus Signature Revocations Could Derail It

Posted on by June 8, 2009
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On June 8, the Florida Secretary of State finished checking an initiative petition, and said the initiative appears to have enough signatures statewide. The proposed initiative would require a popular vote on new housing development approvals. The initiative needed 676,811 signatures to appear on the November 2010 ballot, and has 691,896 valid.

However, Florida has a distribution requirement for statewide initiatives, and the initiative lacks enough signatures in one district. But, the initiative does have enough signatures even in that one district, if it wins a pending lawsuit in the Florida Supreme Court. The lawsuit concerns a 2007 law that makes it possible for people who have signed the initiative to later remove their signatures. The State Court of Appeals had struck down that procedure on April 23, 2008. The state had appealed to the Florida Supreme Court, which heard the case on January 8, 2009. The case is Florida Hometown Democracy v Browning, SC08-884.

The proponents of the initiative are hoping that the Florida Supreme Court issues its ruling quickly, so that it knows whether it must collect more signatures or not. If it must collect more signatures, people who signed that petition more than four years ago will not count. Also people who signed it more than four years ago are not permitted to sign it again.