The Vermont legislature has adjourned. The legislature did not pass any of the bills relating to Instant Runoff Voting, nor did it pass same-day voter registration, nor did it pass the bill to move the primary from September to August.
Reply
World Net Daily and Joseph Farah have launched a fundraising drive to pay for billboards around the U.S. that will say, “Where’s the Birth Certificate” and include a link to the web page. The WND announcement of May 21 has already received mention in newspapers. See this story from the San Francisco Examiner.
On May 20, the Cumberland County, Tennessee, Election Administrator, Suzanne Smith, recently fired from her job, filed a lawsuit alleging that the Tennessee Constitution does not permit people to be fired because of their partisan affiliation. Smith v Cumberland County Election Commission, 09-ch-248, Circuit Court in Cumberland County.
The Tennessee Constitution says that the party holding the most seats in the State House is entitled to a majority on each county election commission. Republicans won the most seats in 2008 in the State House, so in each county election commission, majority control has been passing to Republicans. However, the Tennessee Constitution also says bans “political or religious tests” as a qualification “to any office or public trust”. Smith argues that just because the Republican Party is entitled to name a majority of the county Election Commissioners, it does not follow logically that the new Republican majority is free to fire an administrator on the grounds that she is a Democrat.
On May 20, the Oklahoma legislature passed HB 2246. It expands the petitioning period for initiatives from 90 days to one year. It also permits petition forms to be on 8.5 inch by 11 inch paper, instead of the old 14 inch-long paper. That change makes it easier to distribute the forms, because home computers frequently have printers that can handle 11 inch long paper, but fewer can handle 14 inch paper. Therefore, more individuals can easily download blank petition forms at home.
Assuming that Governor Brad Henry signs SB 800 and HB 2246, and assuming that the 2010 voters pass SJR 13, one could make the case that Oklahoma will have a slightly easier procedure for initiatives to get on the ballot, than for new parties to get on the ballot. If these pro-initiative measures had been in effect in 2007, and also if the 10th circuit decision Yes on Term Limits v Savage had already been issued in 2007 (instead of 2008), the OBAR (Oklahoma Ballot Access Reform) initiative to ease the ballot access laws probably would have succeeded.
Comparing the number of signatures required for initiatives, versus new parties, under these new bills, is interesting. For the 2010 election, new parties in Oklahoma need 73,134 valid signatures. Yet, under SJR 13 (which lowers the number of signatures for initiatives in years after presidential election years), an initiative aiming for the 2010 ballot would need 74,117 signatures, virtually the same number as for a new party.
The First Amendment Freedom of Association clause protects the right of the people to form new political parties and get them on the ballot. By contrast, nothing in the U.S. Constitution requires the states to permit initiatives. Yet assuming all the good improvements passed by the Oklahoma legislature for initiatives become law, Oklahoma will be in the historically unique position (for any state) of having procedures for initiatives that are virtually no more difficult than procedures to put a party on the ballot.
Steve Vaillancourt is a Republican state legislator in New Hampshire who in 2000 was elected to the legislature solely as a Libertarian Party nominee. He has been in the national news this week. Two weeks ago, the New Hampshire legislature passed a bill to legalize same-sex marriage. Governor John Lynch said he would only sign that bill if it were amended to provide extra protection for individuals who do not ever want to be forced to participate in anything involving same-sex marriage.
On May 20, the House rejected the Governor’s proposed amendments to the bill, by a two vote margin. Vaillancourt, who is gay, and who supports same-sex marriage, feels the Governor’s amendments are bad policy, and spoke on the House floor against the Governor’s amendments. See this story.
Vaillancourt became the Libertarian Party nominee in 2000. He had been a Democratic house member but he had run and lost the Democratic primary for State Senate in August. After he was defeated in that primary, he asked the Libertarian Party to nominate him for his House seat. The party was permitted to do that because in 2000 it was permitted to nominate by convention for any partisan office in the state. It had that legal ability because it had completed a petition (requiring signatures equal to 3% of the last gubernatorial vote). That petition effort was so difficult, the Libertarian Party has never since completed it, but it paid off for the party in November 2000 when Vaillancourt was re-elected, even though he was only listed on the ballot as a Libertarian. Later Vaillancourt switched his affiliation to the Republican Party.
The only instances at which the Libertarian Party has ever elected a state legislator who was not also running as the nominee of a major party were this instance in New Hampshire in 2000, plus instances in Alaska in 1978, 1980 and 1984.