On February 4, Arkansas HB 1021 was signed into law by Governor Mike Beebe. It moves the presidential primary from February to May.
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On February 17, a U.S. District Court in Wisconsin struck down three State Supreme Court rules: (1) a prohibition on a state judge being a member of a party; (2) a prohibition on a judge endorsing a candidate in a partisan election; (3) a prohibition on a judge personally asking anyone for a campaign contribution.
Wisconsin elects its state court judges with non-partisan elections. The decision emphasizes that the state is free to continue using this system. The case is Siefert v Alexander, 08-cv-126, w.d. The decision is 65 pages and can be read on the webpage of the James Madison Center, www.jamesmadison.org. Choose “Judicial accountability project” on the left-hand menu, and then choose “Siefert v Alexander”. Thanks to Rick Hasen for this news.
On February 17, the Vermont Senate Government Operations Committee passed S.34, the National Popular Vote bill. The Vermont legislature passed this bill last year, but the Governor vetoed it.
The National Popular Vote bill has also been introduced in Oklahoma. The bill is HB 2207, by Rep. Ryan Kiesel (D-Seminole).
Two Oklahoma bills to make it easier to qualify initiatives for the ballot passed the Senate Rules Committee on February 17. Both are sponsored by Senator Randy Brogdon (R-Owasso), the same Senator who sponsored the bill to ease ballot access for minor parties. SJR13, a proposed amendment to the Oklahoma Constitution, would lower the number of signatures for a statutory initiative from 8% of the last vote cast, to 5% of the last gubernatorial vote. If the legislature passes this, the voters must vote on it in 2010.
SB 852 removes some impediments to the qualification of initiative petitions. It allows the initiative to be printed on 8.5 inch by 11 inch paper (current law requires that sheets be 14 inches long, which makes it more difficult to distribute blank petition forms on many home printers). It deletes the requirement that only Oklahoma residents may circulate an initiative. It expands the petitioning period from 90 days to one year. It requires legal challenges to the initiative to be filed early in the process, instead of after all the signatures have been collected. And it makes it illegal to harass initiative petition circulators while they are working.
On February 17, the Senate Rules Committee passed SB 872, which moves the Oklahoma primary (for office other than president) from July to the 2nd Tuesday in June. The bill is sponsored by Senator Glenn Coffee, leader of the Republicans in that chamber, and observers expect it to pass.
The bill also moves the deadline for candidates to file for a place on the primary ballot from June to the last Thursday in March. However, the bill fails to change the petition deadline for a new party to qualify itself, which is currently May 1. Thus, if SB 872 passes in its current form, people intending to run in the primary of a new party would need to file before that new party had qualified itself.
The Oklahoma Constitution requires all qualified parties to nominate by primary, so the legislature can’t solve the problem by letting new parties nominate by convention. And if the legislature amends the bill to make the deadline for a new party substantially earlier, then the entire procedure for a new party would probably be held unconstitutional.