On May 5, Illinois State Senator Terry Link filed an amendment to HB 723 that makes that bill less harmful. The bill, as passed by the House, makes it virtually impossible for a qualified party to nominate someone after the primary, by requiring such late nominees to submit a petition signed by 5% of the last vote cast. Senator Link’s amendment lowers the number of signatures. The amendment would make the petition requirement equal to the number of signatures that the candidate would have needed if he or she had filed to run in the primary in the first place. Primary petitions in Illinois generally require only about one-half of 1% of that party’s vote at the last general election.

Even if the bill gets amended, it is still burdensome. The petitions would need to be circulated between mid-February and mid-April, not good months for petitioning in states with severe winters. Also there really is no logic in requiring petitions for candidates who are chosen by committee. The rationale for petitions is to keep ballots from being crowded, but in this case there is no primary ballot.

The Daily Voice, a print/web daily newspaper in New York city which describes itself as a news source for black Americans, carries this op-ed by Lenora Fulani. The op-ed, which ran May 5, makes a case that black voters in New York city should support Mayor Mike Bloomberg for re-election, on the Independence Party line. The op-ed discusses the term limits issue. Thanks to Bill Van Allen for the link.

Lenora Fulani was the presidential candidate of the New Alliance Party in 1988 and 1992. The New Alliance Party placed her on the ballot in all 50 states in 1988. The only other minor parties that ever placed a presidential nominee on the ballot in all the jurisdictions with electoral votes (in the last 90 years) were the Libertarian Party and the Reform Party.

On May 5, the Oklahoma legislature passed SJR 13. It lowers the number of signatures for initiatives, in years immediately after presidential elections. The old law says a statutory initiative needs signatures of 8% of the last vote cast. SJR 13 changes this to 8% of the last gubernatorial vote. Because so many more voters vote in presidential years than in midterm years, this has the effect of lowering the number of signatures by 30%, for initiatives meant for the midterm election. It has no effect on initiatives that try to get on the ballot in presidential years.

SJR 13 changes the Constitution, so it won’t go into effect unless the voters approve it in 2010. Thanks to Richard Prawdzienski for this news.