Faye Coffield, Georgia Independent Candidate for Congress

Posted on by June 8, 2008
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Georgia has the nation’s most restrictive ballot access law for independent and minor party candidates for the U.S. House. No independent for that office has qualified under that law since 1964. It requires a petition of 5% of the number of registered voters in the district.

Faye Coffield is trying to qualify as an independent, in the 4th district. The incumbant, Hank Johnson, will be unopposed in November unless Coffield is able to get on the ballot. Coffield, 58, is a private investigator. Both Johnson and Coffield are African-American. The 4th district is centered on DeKalb County, Georgia. Anyone in the Atlanta metro area who would like to help circulate the Coffield petition, should consider doing so. Her webpage is www.electfaye.com. Her postal address is PO Box 360453, Decatur Ga 30036. Her e-mail is comment@electfaye.com, and her phone is 770-657-3104. She needs 14,887 valid signatures by July 8. If she collects a substantial number of signatures, but falls short, she would be an excellent plaintiff in a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the requirement. The U.S. Supreme Court said in 1974 that a ballot access requirement that is seldom used is probably unconstitutional. Earlier this year, 3 justices of that Court reiterated that test, in a concurrence.

Washington State Primary Has No Function in 3/4ths of Legislative Races

Posted on by June 8, 2008
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Washington state is using the “top-two” system for the first time this year. There are 26 State Senate seats up, and 98 State House seats up, for a total of 124 legislative races this year. Filing for the August 19 primary is now closed. Out of the 124 races, the primary is utterly meaningless in 92 races, since there are only two candidates, or only one candidate, running in 92 races.

Formerly, the Washington primary was the device by which major parties nominated their candidates, but it no longer has that function. Instead, the only function of the August 19 primary is to whittle down the number of candidates in the November election to just two. Obviously, when there are just two candidates (or just one candidate) in a particular race, there is no whittling to be done. In other words, in 74% of the legislative races this year, the primary will accomplish absolutely nothing.

Except for the gubernatorial race, there is no federal or state race this year in Washington with more than seven candidates. One wonders why the primary could not simply be canceled, so that all candidates who filed could run in November.

The total number of Democrats and Republicans running in this year’s primary for legislature is 207. Two years ago, when the state was using an open primary, there were 233 Democrats and Republicans running for the legislature. Thus, it seems one effect of the “top-two” system has been to reduce choices for Democratic and Republican voters.

For counting purposes, any candidate who used the word “Democratic” or just “D” was counted as a Democrat, even if the candidate appended other words, such as “True Democrat” or “Progressive Democrat”. Similarly, any candidate who used the term “G.O.P.” was counted as a Republican, and also any candidate who used “Republican” with other words, such as “Republican Tax Cut” was also counted as a Republican.

U.S. Senator Bill Nelson Introduces Constitutional Amendment for Direct Presidential Vote

Posted on by June 7, 2008
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On June 6, U.S. Senator Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) introduced Senate Joint Resolution 39, to abolish the electoral college and provide a direct popular vote for president. The Library of Congress web site, http://thomas.loc.gov, will have the text posted very soon, but it is not there yet. See this commentary about the proposal from Atlantic Monthly.

Senator Nelson also introduced legislation on September 6, 2007, for federal regulation of presidential primaries. The bill, S.2024, would divide the U.S. into six regions. All presidential primaries would be between March and June. A lottery would determine the order of regions.

Finally, Senator Nelson introduced S.3100 on June 6. It requires the states to permit no-excuse absentee voting in federal elections, and sets up a pilot project for mail balloting.

Obama Could Conceivably Be Listed Four Times on South Carolina Ballot

Posted on by June 7, 2008
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South Carolina permits fusion for all office. For president, South Carolina has used fusion in 1972 (when George McGovern was listed as the Democratic nominee and the United Citizens nominee) and in 1996 (when Ross Perot was listed as the Reform nominee and the Patriot nominee).

In 2008, it is possible that Barack Obama might be listed four times. He is almost certain to be the nominee of the Democratic, Working Families, and United Citizens Parties. The Independence Party is also considering nominating him. If this happens, it would be the first time in the history of government-printed ballots that any presidential candidate was listed as the nominee of four parties.

The last time any presidential nominee was listed as many as three times in any state was in New York in 2000, when Al Gore was listed as the nominee of the Democratic, Liberal, and Working Families Parties.