May 18 is the Minnesota legislature’s last day. Still undecided is whether the omnibus election law bill, SF 1331, will move the primary from September to June. The bill passed both houses of the legislature and is in conference committee. If the primary moves from September to June, the petition deadlines for independent candidates (for office other than president) and for new parties will automatically become much earlier than they are now.
On May 18, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear Stevo v Keith, 08-1187, the case challenging the number of signatures needed for an independent candidate for U.S. House in Illinois.
Although the U.S. Supreme Court released two full opinions on May 18, none of the three pending election law decisions were among them.
On May 18, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear Stevo v Keith, 08-1187, the case challenging the number of signatures needed for an independent candidate for U.S. House in Illinois.
Although the U.S. Supreme Court released two full opinions on May 18, none of the three pending election law decisions were among them.
On May 15, Colorado Governor Bill Ritter signed HB 1326 into law. It does not outlaw paying initiative petitioners per signature, but it provides that no more than 20% of any circulator’s compensation may be based on how many signatures that circulator collected.
The bill also contains a creative idea concerning out-of-state initiative circulators. The bill says that out-of-state circulators tend to immediately leave Colorado after they have finished work on any particular initiative petition. Therefore, it requires that such circulators must agree to make themselves available for an interview, if their work is challenged, although “available” includes via a telephone call. If the circulator refuses, his or her work is disqualified. However, the bill says that if the circulator had died or become incapacitated, and therefore is not available to answer questions, that circulator’s work does not get automatically disqualified.
The Hawaii Republican Party held its state convention May 15-17. The body did not vote on a proposed resolution in favor of a closed primary for the party. Hawaii does not have registration by party, and some of the party officers had hoped to persuade the convention to resolve that the party bring a lawsuit to get a closed primary for itself. However, the resolution was never brought to the floor. An earlier version of this blog post said the convention had passed such a resolution, but that was inaccurate.
