Even though it has been 48 days since the New Mexico Constitution Party submitted its ballot access petition, the New Mexico Secretary of State is still checking the validity of that petition. The job should be done by May 23. The requirement is 2,794 signatures.
New Mexico does not have the statewide initiative process. States that do have initiatives are usually good at checking signatures rapidly.
On May 19, Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius vetoed HB 2019, which would have provided for a Kansas presidential primary, starting in 2012. This year, Kansas was one of only 10 states with no presidential primary.
The bill said that the presidential primary should be the first Saturday in February. In 2012, the first Saturday in February is February 4. The major parties don’t allow presidential primaries before the first Tuesday in February (except that the Democratic Party gives special rights to four particular states). In 2012, the first Tuesday in February is February 7, so the Kansas primary would have been in violation of the rules of both major parties.
HB 2019 also provides that voters at the polls must show a government photo-Id. The Governor’s message said she is vetoing the bill because of that part of the bill. The Governor praised the part of the bill establishing a presidential primary, and implied she would have signed the bill if it had not had any provisions about photo voter-ID. The Governor did not acknowledge that the primary date would have violated national major party rules.
The Party for Socialism and Liberation hopes to qualify its presidential candidate, Gloria La Riva, in 15 or 16 states. If the party qualifies for the ballot in 15 states, that would be the highest number of states that any socialist party has qualified in, for president, since 1988. In 1988, the Socialist Workers Party placed its presidential candidate on the ballot in 15 states plus D.C.
Generally, the party name on ballots will be “Socialism and Liberation”. The 15 states the party hopes to qualify in are Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin. All these states will print the party label on the ballot except for Mississippi and Tennessee, which will just print “independent”.
The party also hopes that its presidential candidate will win the nomination of the Peace & Freedom Party in California.
A year ago, the North Carolina Senate passed the National Popular Vote Plan. SB 954 passed on May 14, 2007. However, the House has done nothing with the bill. But North Carolina, like most states, has two-year legislative sessions, and the House is considering passing the bill. See this story.
The Maine Green Party held its state convention May 17-18 in Yarmouth. The Maine Green Party has the right to send 44 delegates to the national convention, a larger delegation than any other state Green Party except for the California Green Party. Presidential candidates Jesse Johnson and Kat Swift attended the convention. Cynthia McKinney did not attend, but her campaign was represented by Bruce Gagnon of the Maine Green Party.
The Maine Green Party had held caucuses in February, and Cynthia McKinney had won the most support at those caucuses. However, the delegates chosen by the May state convention will be free to vote for whom they wish in Chicago in July. The delegate slate is still being assembled.
