New York will soon hold a special election to fill the vacant U.S. House seat, 20th district (Hudson Valley).

Qualified parties choose nominees in special elections by party meeting. The Republican and Conservative Parties have already nominated Jim Tedisco. The Democratic and Working Families Parties have already nominated Scott Murphy. The Independence Party state committee will nominate someone on February 22, but that party is expected to cross-endorse either the Democrat, or the Republican, or else have no candidate at all.

Only one petitioning candidate is likely to qualify. He is Eric Sundwall of the Libertarian Party. He will need 3,500 valid signatures, to be gathered in only 12 days. His petitioning period will probably start on February 23, although that is not completely certain. The date of the special election is also not yet formally determined.

Recently, two election law bills have been introduced in the West Virginia legislature that are clearly unconstitutional.

Senators Robert Williams (D-Bridgeport) and Robert Plymale (D-Ceredo) have introduced SB 271, to require declared write-in candidates to pay a filing fee. West Virginia previously had a filing fee requirement for write-in candidates, but it was declared unconstitutional in 2000 in Phillips v Hechler, 120 F.Supp.2d 587. The “Phillips” was Howard Phillips, Constitution Party presidential candidate, who had been told his write-ins would not be counted unless he paid the $2,500 filing fee. Phillips then sued and won.

Delegates Ron Fragale, Tim Miley, and Richard Iaquinta have introduced HB 2052, which says that no one who has ever been convicted of a felony in the courts of West Virginia “or any other court” (which would even include foreign courts) may be elected to any public office. This bill, if enacted, would be unconstitutional as applied to federal office. The U.S. Constitution does not permit the states to add to the qualifications that are listed in the U.S. Constitution.

On February 17, Indianapolis city councilmember Edward Coleman publicly announced that he had left the Republican Party and joined the Libertarian Party. Indianapolis, which has a city-county merged government (Marion County-Indianapolis), has partisan elections. Coleman is one of the 4 at-large members and was last elected in November 2007. He must run for re-election in November 2011.

Indiana does not have registration by party. Therefore, there is no piece of paper that makes Coleman’s switch “official” other than his becoming a dues-paying member of the Libertarian Party, and of course his declaration of candidacy if he runs for re-election in 2011. See this Chicago Tribune story about Coleman’s party switch.