The Peace & Freedom Party is hosting a Conference in San Francisco on Saturday, August 1, to advance its hopes of building a nationwide political party. The conference is at the State Building at 455 Golden Gate Ave. See here for more information.
The Peace & Freedom Party is hosting a Conference in San Francisco on Saturday, August 1, to advance its hopes of building a nationwide political party. The conference is at the State Building at 455 Golden Gate Ave. See here for more information.
On May 29, the Maine House passed LD 144. This bill shrinks the size of the House from 151 members to 131 members.
On May 29, U.S. District Court Judge William E. Smith, a Bush Jr. appointee, ruled that Rhode Island may not prevent a group from starting to circulate its petition for qualified party status in an odd year. Rhode Island provides that a group that wants to become a qualified party in advance of any particular election must submit a petition signed by 5% of the last vote cast. Furthermore, Rhode Island law makes it illegal to start circulating such a petition until January 1 of an even year.
The case is Block v Mollis, 09-47. The 27-page decision upholds the number of signatures. The case had been filed by the Moderate Party, which only exists in Rhode Island. See this Providence Journal news story about the decision.
This decision is the first constitutional ballot access victory in calendar year 2009 so far, and only the second decision to strike down a “start date” for petitions to create a ballot-qualified party. The first such decision had been won in U.S. District Court in Arkansas in 2001.
On May 28, Nevada Governor Jim Gibbons signed SB 162, which moves the primary from August to June. The bill also moves petition deadlines for non-presidential independent candidates to February, which is likely unconstitutional. Also it requires qualified minor parties to nominate their candidates no later than March, two months before the major parties choose their nominees.
