The Ellsworth American newspaper in Maine has this article in its February 10 edition. It explains how one 72-year-old woman, Ruby Sprague, persuaded her state legislator to introduce a bill so that independent voters would be referred to as “Independents”, not “Unenrolled.” The bill, LD3, is pending in the joint Legal and Veterans Affairs Committee.
A New York Daily News story of February 9 says Mayor Mike Bloomberg still has bleak prospects for winning the nomination of any of the state’s ballot-qualified parties. The story quotes the Mayor as saying at this point he has no idea how he will run for re-election. If he petitions as an independent candidate, he will be at the bottom of a confusingly laid-out ballot. It is always possible he could file a lawsuit, and potentially win that lawsuit, that the Constitution requires a random order of candidates on the ballot. Such lawsuits have won in the 7th circuit, the 8th circuit, and in U.S. District Courts in New Mexico and Oklahoma, as well as in the New Hampshire Supreme Court. Thanks to Bill Van Allen for the link.
Ten Oregon legislators are sponsoring HB 2580, which would legalize fusion and even provide that a voter could vote for the fusion candidate under either party label. The sponsors are these Republicans: Senator Brian Boquist and Representative Vicki Berger; and these Democrats: Senator Diane Rosenbaum and Representatives Peter Buckley, Chip Shields, Jeff Barker, Ben Cannon, Michael Dembrow, Chris Garrett, and Arnie Roblan.
Previous blog posts had noted that the South Carolina House has a bill to eliminate the ability of two political parties to jointly nominate the same candidate. An anti-fusion bill also now has been introduced in the Senate. It is SB 334, introduced by 3 Republicans, George Campsen, Lawrence Groome, and Michael Rose.
On February 9, the South Dakota Senate Local Government Committee killed SB 157. It would have let independent voters vote in any party’s primary.
