According to this Los Angeles Times story, the California budget deal means that the voters of California will vote in June 2010 on whether to install the Washington state-style “top two” primary. This is bad news; my earlier post had believed the ballot question would match ACA 6, a Louisiana-style system that only applies to state office.
On February 18, Alabama HB 72 passed the House Constitution and Elections Committee. The Committee amended the bill, so now the only change it makes is to lower the independent petition for statewide office from 3% of the last gubernatorial vote, to 1.5% of the last gubernatorial vote.
The bill originally lowered the petition for all non-presidential independents, but Majority Leader Ken Guin (D-Carbon Hill) complained that 1.5% for lower house of the legislature would be only 150 signatures, which he felt was too easy (his arithmetic was somewhat faulty; he should have said 180 signatures). So the Committee amended the bill to apply only to non-presidential statewide independents. Thanks to Joshua Cassity for this news. If the bill passes, the non-presidential statewide independent petition requirement in 2010 will be 18,757 signatures.
On February 17, the 5th circuit revived the lawsuit LULAC of Texas v Texas Democratic Party, 08-50581. A group of Mexican-American voters had challenged the apportionment of delegates to Texas presidential caucuses, which are awarded on how many votes are cast in each district, rather than population. The Texas Democratic Party adopted that system in 1988 and never cleared it with the Voting Rights Section of the U.S. Justice Department. Texas is a covered state for section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, and even political parties in covered areas must get permission to change their rules. The U.S. District Court had dismissed the case, but the 5th circuit said that such lawsuits require a 3-judge U.S. District Court. Therefore, the case returns to U.S. District Court to be re-done with 3 judges instead of just one. The voters had also sued the state of Texas, but the 5th circuit voted 2-1 that only the Democratic Party is a necessary defendant, and dropped the state from the case.
Maryland State Senators Andrew Harris (R-Cockeysville) and Jamie Raskin (D-Takoma Park) have introduced SB 947, to lower the number of signatures for a new or previously unqualified party from 10,000 to 5,000. Thanks to Brandon Payne for this news.
Several newspapers have stories on February 19 about New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg’s attempts to woo the Republican Party, and the Independence Party, so that he may get their permission to run in their primaries, in the 2009 Mayoral election. Here is the Village Voice article, which focuses especially on the wooing of leaders of the New York City Independence Party, Fred Newman and Jackie Salit. Thanks to Blair Bobier for the news.
