One Canadian’s Take on U.S. Party System

Posted on by October 4, 2008
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Film Critic Roger Ebert’s blog has an entry about the vice-presidential debate. That entry has many comments, including this interesting and perceptive comment from someone who lives in Quebec:

“Boy as a Canadian I sure don’t envy any of you dear neighbors. It is always the same, either Republican or Democratic…so boring.

Can’t you see that THEY own the ballpark. Only these two teams compete, sometimes one wins and sometimes it’s the other but they always play in THEIR ballpark…We too have to choose our government on the 14th and we have 5 choices (at least in Quebec we have, for the rest it is only 4). Isn’t that what real democracy should be about, a real choice that is not limited to either left or right. I am not saying we are better but at least we try.” The comment is by Philippe.

To see all the blog posts about the debate at the Ebert site, see here.

New York Political Party Label Dispute Settled

Posted on by October 4, 2008
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Half the states let a candidate who uses the independent candidate procedure choose a party label, which is printed on the November ballot next to the candidate’s name. Generally, the law requires that the chosen label can’t mimic the name of a fully qualified party. State law also usually requires that the label must not be too long. But, generally, those are the only restrictions, except that most states also provide some means to settle the rare problem of what happens when two different candidates for the same office choose the same label.

This year, two candidates for the same office in Red Hook, New York, both filed independent candidate petitions using the label “Red Hook United.” Each is running for Town Board. New York state law says that the first candidate to file gets title to the label. This year, in Red Hook, Robert Latimer and Robert McKeon each was aware that they both wanted the same label. Latimer therefore appeared at the office of the Board of Elections on August 12, the first day for filing. He arrived early, before the office opened at 9 a.m., so that he was first in line. However, when the office opened to the public, an employee of the Board cut in line in front of him, saying since she had been in the office since 7:30 a.m. (before the office was open to the public), she should go first. She then filed McKeon’s petition. The Dutchess County Board of Elections ruled that Latimer’s petition should be deemed to have been filed first. McKeon sued. But on September 30, the two candidates settled the dispute. McKeon may have the label “Red Hook United” and Latimer is free to choose another label.

“Red Hook United” is not just a label; it is the name of an actual political party that only exists in Red Hook. McKeon helped found the party. McKeon is also the Democratic nominee; Latimer is also the Republican, Conservative, and Independence Party nominee.

On October 4, Louisiana Holds First Partisan Primaries Since 1976

Posted on by October 4, 2008
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On October 4 (Saturday), Louisiana is holding its first regularly-scheduled partisan primaries for Congress since 1976. The law was changed in 2006 to provide that political parties nominate candidates for Congress. Between 1978 and 2006, political parties did not hold their own primaries for Congress. Instead, all candidates for Congress ran on the same ballot, and the top two vote-getters held a run-off, if no one got 50% in the first round.

Louisiana does not permit write-in votes. Therefore, if a party has no contests for Congress (because only one candidate filed in that party’s primary), the state doesn’t bother to actually hold a primary for that party, and deems the single candidate to be the nominee. The Libertarian Party only has a single candidate for U.S. Senate, and has only one for U.S. House. The Green Party only has a single candidate for U.S. House in one district. The Reform Party has no candidates for Congress. Therefore, no primary ballots were printed up for these three ballot-qualified parties.

Either a Republican or a Democratic primary contest, or both, exists in the First, Second, Fourth, and Fifth districts. In the Second and Fourth districts, there are at least three candidates in one of the major party primaries. Louisiana provides that parties hold run-off primaries if no one gets 50% in the first primary. If no one gets as much as 50% in a major party primary in the Second and/or Fourth districts, the run-off primary will be on November 4, and the general election for that district will be December 6. It is very likely that no Democrat will get as much as 50% in the Second district (the New Orleans district), where William Jefferson, the incumbent, has lost support.

Louisiana expected to hold its first Congressional primary on September 6, but postponed it until October 4 because of the storms.

Now is the Time to Ask State Legislators to Introduce Bills Next Year

Posted on by October 4, 2008
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If you live in a state with ballot access problems, now is the time to communicate with state legislators (or with candidates who are likely to be elected to state legislatures) and ask that they sponsor bills to improve the laws. Many states have strict deadlines for state legislators to introduce bills. In a few states, bills must be introduced before January 1, 2009.

Half the battle to get a bill enacted is finding a legislator to sponsor the bills. Many states sharply restrict the number of bills that any particular state legislator may introduce. Therefore, this is the time to talk to state legislators, before they have already committed themselves to using up their quota of bills.

Ballot access reform in some states can only be enacted during on odd year. This is particularly true for Texas, which only holds legislative sessions (other than special sessions, which have limited powers) in odd years. It is also true in West Virginia, where the legislature has a tradition of not dealing with election law changes in even years.