Former California State Legislator Steve Peace Says it is Time for California to Abandon Top-Two in Favor of Top-Four or Top-Five

Posted on by February 14, 2024
12

Former California legislator Steve Peace has this article at Independent Voter News, saying it is time for California to abandon the top-two system created in 2010, and switch to a top-four or a top-five system with Ranked Choice Voting.

Peace was one of the leading actors in the creation of the top-two system in California, which was put on the ballot by the legislature after then-Senator Abel Maldonado, a Republican, said he would vote for the state budget if the legislature put top-two on the ballot. Maldonado, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Peace all worked together. At the time the California constitution required the state budget to pass with a two-thirds vote in each house. Republicans wouldn’t vote for the budget, and the stalemate, lasting over a month, created havoc.

Peace’s new article shows how top-two in California has motivated dirty tricks. Major party candidates sometimes run phony ads that ostensibly are for the purpose of boosting another candidate in the same race who is of the opposite major party. The motive is to manipulate the system so that the true sponsor of the ads can defeat his or her chief rival from the same party.

Utah Bill to Improve Petition Deadline for Independent Candidates Passes State Senate

Posted on by February 14, 2024
2

On January 29, the Utah Senate passed SB 107, which moves the petition deadline for independent candidates from January to June 15. On February 12, it passed the House Rules Committee.

As far as is known, this is the first bill to ease ballot access restrictions that has made any headway so far this year. The bill is a result of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.’s federal lawsuit.

Tennessee Libertarian Party Files Reply Brief in Ballot Access Case

Posted on by February 14, 2024
Reply

On February 13, the Tennessee Libertarian Party filed this brief in Darnell v Hargett, m.d., 3:23cv-1266. This is the lawsuit filed to overturn the requirements for a group to get on the ballot as a party. The brief emphasizes that the Sixth Circuit struck down Michigan’s statewide independent petition of 30,000 signatures in 2021, in Graveline v Benson. Both Michigan and Tennessee are in the Sixth Circuit, so the Graveline decision is precedent for this lawsuit. The Tennessee party petition is 43,498 signatures this year (2.5% of the last gubernatorial vote).

Forward Party Qualifies in Virginia to Let Its Nominees Use Party Label on Ballot

Posted on by February 14, 2024
8

Although the Forward Party is not ballot-qualified in Virginia, it recently qualified to have any nominees it may have this year use the party label. In Virginia, there is no petition to create a ballot-qualified party. Instead there are only candidate petitions. The candidates may use their party label only if that party has shown that it has a state committee with a representative from each U.S. House district. The State Board of Elections has determined that the Forward Party has such a committee.

This status is only useful if the party has any successful petitioning candidates this year. In Virginia, in even-years, there are no regularly-scheduled elections for state office, but there are for Congress. Presumably the Forward Party will have some congressional candidates this year; otherwise there would have been no point in getting the right to use a party label.

Although Virginia has some partisan county and city elections, there are no party labels in those elections.