Congressional Bill to Treat D.C. Voters as Maryland Residents

Posted on by January 29, 2009
Reply

Congressman Dana Rohrbacher introduced HR 665 on January 23. Read the bill by going to http://thomas.loc.gov and inputting the bill number. It provides that for presidential and congressional elections, the District of Columbia should be treated as though it were part of Maryland. It abolishes the office of Delegate to Congress for the District of Columbia, and says that at first, D.C. would be its own U.S. House district, but the election would be run under Maryland election laws. If, in the future, the population of D.C. is greater than the population of an average House district in Maryland, then the greater part of D.C. would be a district, and the excess would be part of a Maryland U.S. House district.

Montana Bills for Registration by Party are Tabled

Posted on by January 29, 2009
Reply

Two Montana bills to institute registration by party have been tabled. HB 248, by Rep. Ken Peterson (R-Billings) would have set up closed primaries, but it was tabled on January 28. SB 186, by Senator Joe Balyeat (R-Bozeman), which would have set up voluntary registration by party, was tabled on January 26.

Senator Balyeat also has SB 243, which would propose a constitutional amendment requiring that run-offs be held after any general election in which no one got at least 50% of the vote. The Senate State Administration heard the bill on January 28 and has not yet acted.

New Arizona Registration Data Shows More Independent Voters

Posted on by January 29, 2009
Reply

Arizona’s Secretary of State has posted new data on the number of registered voters. Compared to October 22, 2008, the share of voters registered “independent” has risen. Independents were 27.60% in October 2008, but are now at 28.01%.

Democrats declined from 34.22% to 34.10%. Republicans declined from 37.44% to 37.15%. Libertarians were static, at .61% in both tallies. Greens went up from .13% to .14%. Parties whose registration is below .667% in November 2009 will be removed from the ballot. Assuming the number of registered voters stays the same between now and then, Libertarians will need another 1,845 members, and Greens will need another 16,273 members.

Sponsor Found for Utah Ballot Access Bill

Posted on by January 29, 2009
Reply

Utah Representative Carl Wimmer (R-Herriman) says he will introduce a bill to ease the definition of “political party”, from a group that polled 2% of the statewide vote in the last election, to a group that polled 2% of the statewide vote in either of the last two elections.

Under existing law, it is fairly easy for a party to pass the vote test in a presidential election year, because there are always five or six statewide offices up in presidential years. But it is difficult for a minor party to remain ballot-qualified in a midterm year, because there is never any statewide race up in mid-term years, except U.S. Senate (and in one third of the midterm years, there is no statewide office up at all).

When there is no statewide office up at all, the only way any party can remain ballot-qualified is to poll approximately 6% for one of the U.S. House races. The vote test applies to any office (whether statewide or not), but the denominator for the percentage is the statewide vote for all 3 U.S. House races put together.

In 2008, both the Constitution and Libertarian Parties met the vote test and are now ballot-qualified. The Constitution Party did the good work of finding a sponsor for the 2009 bill.

Arkansas Ballot Access Bill Introduced

Posted on by January 28, 2009
Reply

The bill to ease the definition of “political party” has been introduced in the Arkansas legislature. It is HB 1247, sponsored by Representative Richard Carroll (Green-North Little Rock) and Senator Mary Anne Salmon (D-North Little Rock). The bill changes the vote test from President/Governor, to any statewide race. It also says when a party meets the vote test, it is automatically qualified for the next two elections.