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Bill in Congress for Vote on Puerto Rico Status

Posted on June 6, 2009 by adminJune 6, 2009

On May 19, Puerto Rico’s Resident Commissioner to the U.S. House introduced HR2499, which would require a vote on the future political status of Puerto Rico. The bill already has 113 co-sponsors.

The bill’s sponsor, Pedro Pierluisi, was elected to his first term in 2008 as the nominee of the New Progressive Party. That party is the pro-statehood party, and Pierluisi has been working for statehood for Puerto Rico ever since he was in college. The provisions of HR2499 seemed designed to bolster the chances for statehood. The voters would be not only adult residents of Puerto Rico, but any U.S. citizen who was born in Puerto Rico. Those voters who would be eligible to vote, but who do not now live in Puerto Rico, could receive an absentee ballot.

The bill asks voters to choose between two choices: (1) Puerto Rico should continue to have its present form of political status; (2) Puerto Rico should have a different political status.

If choice (2) receives a majority, then there would be a second vote a few months later, with three choices: (1) Independence; (2) Sovereignty in association with the U.S., in which the two would form a political association between two sovereign nations in which Puerto Rico would not be subject to the territorial clause of the U.S. Constitution; (3) Statehood.

HR2499 is opposed by Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez (D-New York), who is chair of the congressional Hispanic Caucus. To read the bill, go to http://thomas.loc.gov and choose HR2499.

Maine Bill Signed Into Law, Would Help Write-in Candidates

Posted on June 6, 2009 by adminJune 6, 2009

On June 5, Maine Governor John Baldacci signed LD1169 into law. It improves the ability of voters to cast a write-in vote for a declared write-in candidate. It deletes the requirement that the voter write-in not only the name of the candidate, but the town of residence of the candidate. Also it provides that the names of declared write-in candidates be posted in polling places. And it says that the tally sheets at the local polling place must have the names of the declared write-in candidates printed, next to the names of the candidates listed on the ballot, so as to remind local polling place officials to include those write-ins in the tally.

It also moves the deadline for a declared write-in to file to 45 days before the election. That is a more restrictive requirement than the old law, but it was necessary in order to implement the other parts of the law, and also to make sure that absentee voters have the same field of candidates as the voters who vote on election day.

The bill is an omnibus election bill and contains many other unrelated provisions. It specifies that the person who signs the bottom of any petition (in his or her role as the circulator) must have actually collected all the signatures, rather than just witnessing the signatures being collected. Thanks to Herb Hoffman for this news.

Oklahoma Governor Vetoes Bill to Expand Initiative Petitioning Period from 90 Days to One Year

Posted on June 6, 2009 by adminJune 6, 2009

On the evening of June 5, Oklahoma Governor Brad Henry vetoed HB 2246, which would have expanded the petitioning period for initiatives from 90 days to one year. Governor Henry said he approved of most parts of the bill, but he vetoed it because of section III of the bill, which made it a crime for opponents of an initiative to interfere with the petitioning process. UPDATE: see this article in the Tulsa World of June 8 about the veto.

Another bill is pending in the current two-year session of the legislature that also contains the expansion of the initiative petitioning period from 90 days to one year, but because the legislature has adjourned, it cannot possibly pass until 2010.

Victory for Petitioning in Public Parks

Posted on June 5, 2009 by adminJune 5, 2009

On June 3, U.S. District Court Judge John P. Bailey, a Bush Jr. appointee, ruled that a West Virginia regulation that requires a permit for “solicitation” in West Virginia state parks, state forests, and state wildlife management areas, is unconstitutional. Constitution Party of West Virginia v Jezioro, 2:08-cv-61. Thanks to Independent Political Report for this news. UPDATE: here is the decision. It is possible the regulation would have survived if it did not give unbridled discretion to parks officials on whether to grant the permit or not.

In 2007, when the Constitution Party was petitioning to get its presidential and gubernatorial candidates on the ballot, its petitioners were barred from Stonewall Jackson Lake State Park. The party filed the lawsuit in 2008. The Rutherford Institute represented the Constitution Party.

British Libertarian Polls 7% in 5-Party Race

Posted on June 5, 2009 by adminJune 5, 2009

Great Britain voted on local offices as well as European Parliamentary elections on Thursday, June 4. The new Libertarian Party of Great Britain had a candidate for Cambridge County Council, Andrew Hunt, in the Wisbech South district. He polled 6.9%. The Conservative polled 46.2%; UK Independence Party polled 26.4%; Labour 10.5%; Liberal Democrat 9.7%. Thanks to Bill Van Allen for this link to a webpage for the British Libertarians.