The U.S. Supreme Court held oral argument on March 24 in Citizens United v Federal Election Commission, the case over the intersection between federal campaign laws and a movie that was never shown but which was critical of Hillary Clinton as a potential president. Here is the link to the oral argument.
The U.S. Supreme Court held oral argument on March 24 in Citizens United v Federal Election Commission, the case over the intersection between federal campaign laws and a movie that was never shown but which was critical of Hillary Clinton as a potential president. Here is the link to the oral argument.
On March 21 the Hawaii County Republican Party, meeting in convention, resolved in favor of a semi-closed primary for the state party. The resolution also asks the state party to file a lawsuit to get that type of primary. See this article. Hawaii County is the county composed of Hawaii Island, and should not be confused with the far more populous county consisting of Oahu Island.
Eric Sundwall, Libertarian Party nominee in the special U.S. House election in New York’s 20th district, was removed from the ballot on March 25 by the Board of Elections. He collected 7,000 signatures in 10 days to meet a requirement of 3,500 signatures. But slightly over half of the signers put their mailing address on the petition without also indicating their township. Sundwall is already in court fighting the ruling. See this story.
South Carolina Senator Harvey Peeler has introduced a bill to injure independent candidates in 3 ways: (1) independent candidates would need to file a declaration of candidacy in February, when candidates running in primaries also file a declaration; (2) signers could not sign for an independent candidate unless they had been regiistered to vote for 30 days before signing; (3) signers could not sign if they had voted in a party primary that year.
The first two parts of this bill would almost certainly be found unconstitutional. South Carolina passed a law in 1989 requiring independent candidates to file a declaration of candidacy in February, but it was invalidated by the 4th circuit in Cromer v State in 1990. And the US Supreme Court summarily affirmed a case in 1970 that had invalidated a law saying newly-registered voters can’t sign for independent candidates. That case was Socialist Workers Party v Rockefeller. Thanks to Scott West for news about the South Carolina bill.
