The April 23 issue of the San Francisco Chronicle has a story about confusion between the American Independent Party, and independent voters. The American Independent Party has been ballot-qualified since 1968, yet some Californians still think that if they wish to register as an Independent voter, they should choose the box for “American Independent Party.” The correct way for a California voter to register as an independent is to check the box labeled “Declines to State a Party.”

The publicity was engendered when Mayor Gavin Newsom’s fiancee registered into the American Independent Party. When this was noticed, the Mayor said his fiancee had intended to register as an independent. The American Independent Party is the California affiliate of the Constitution Party. The California Secretary of State says she will redesign the voter registration form to make it more obvious that the American Independent choice is a party. However, the logical solution, to change the designation for actual independents from “Declines to State a Party” to “Independent” cannot be implemented without a change in the election code. The legislature in the past has voted down bills to make this change. Apparently legislators don’t want the choice of “independent” to be listed on the voter registration form, because they believe it is too attractive.

The Illinois House Local Government will hold a hearing on HB 5263 on Tuesday, April 29, at 1 p.m., in room 409 of the Capitol. HB 5263 makes it more difficult for ballot-qualified parties to nominate candidates. Current law says that if a ballot-qualified party doesn’t nominate someone for a particular office at its own primary, party leaders can still choose a nominee afterwards. This bill says that if the post-primary nomination procedure is used, the candidate still can’t be considered nominated unless he or she submits a petition of 5% of the last vote cast.

The Green Party is the only ballot-qualified party statewide in Illinois currently, other than the Democratic and Republican Parties. This year, the Green Party nominated more people by post-primary meeting, than by the primary itself. Ballot access for candidates to get on a primary ballot itself requires a burdensome petition, so losing the ability to make post-primary nominations will be injurious.

Tacoma, Washington’s daily newspaper, the News Tribune, has this interesting story about labels on this year’s primary and election. The article discusses the possibility that some candidates may try labels such as “Endorsed GOP”, or other innovative “preferences” that try to suggest the candidate is endorsed by a particular party.

The article is slightly misleading when it says the US Supreme Court says “top-two” may be constitutional. The Court only said “top-two” may be constitutional, relative to the Political Party Freedom of Association argument. Other legal arguments against “top-two” were not evaluated by either the U.S. Supreme Court, or the lower courts, such as the argument that the system is unconstitutional for congressional elections under the ballot access precedents. Thanks to Steve Rankin for the link.