Thirty-eight Vermont state representatives have introduced H396, which would provide that Vermont use Instant Runoff Voting for gubernatorial elections (the general election only). The preamble to the bill makes the case that the idea is consistent with the Vermont Constitution. There has always been ambiguity in Vermont over whether the State Constitution is consistent with IRV in gubernatorial elections.
Indiana State Senator Sue Landske said recently that the issue of ballot access may perhaps be added to the agenda for the Summer Study Committee, when it considers various election law changes. Indiana ballot access is so severe, no statewide minor party or independent candidate petition has succeeded since 2000, when Pat Buchanan (who had $16,000,000 in taxpayer funds, since he was the nominee of the Reform Party, which had polled over 5% in 1996), did the Indiana petition.
Indiana is one of only 5 states in which Ralph Nader has never been on the ballot. Indiana currently requires over 32,000 valid signatures, due by the end of June of an election year. Thanks to Doug Gaking for this news.
West Virginia Delegate Barbara Fleischauer, long-time champion of ballot access in her state, had expected to introduce a bill this year cutting the number of signatures from 2% of the last vote cast to 1%, and also moving the non-presidential petition deadline from May to August. She had introduced the same bill two years ago.
Unfortunately, the paperwork was mishandled by clerical staff of the legislature, and the bill did not get introduced by the deadline. However, it is possible another election law bill will be amended to include the ballot access improvements.
Eric Sundwall, Libertarian Party candidate for U.S. House in the 20th district, says his campaign has collected 7,000 signatures in only 10 days. The requirement is 3,500 valid signatures to be collected in 12 days. The election is to fill the vacant seat caused by the appointment of former Congresswoman Gillibrandt to the U.S. Senate. Sundwall will probably be the only opponent of the Democratic and Republican nominees. The Independence Party and the Working Families Party both cross-endorsed the Democratic nominee, and the Conservative Party cross-endorsed the Republican nominee.
The Los Angeles Times of March 7 has this interesting op-ed by Tim Rutten. Rutten deplores the very low turnout in recent Los Angeles city elections. All cities and counties in California use non-partisan elections. Rutten advocates partisan elections for cities as large as Los Angeles. He also suggests that there could and perhaps should be parties organized just around city elections, something that is common in states like Illinois, Connecticut, New Jersey and New York. Thanks to Roy Ulrich for the link.
