According to this report, the Time Magazine issue that hits newstands on May 23 contains an interview with Howard Dean, national chair of the Democratic National Committee. In the interview, Dean recommends that Article One, Section Two of the U.S. Constitution be amended, to provide for a direct popular election for president. It is not known if he also discussed the advisability of also amending Article Two, Section One, to eliminate the ban on foreign-born U.S. citizens becoming president.

Starting on May 22, North Carolina voters may now register as members of the Libertarian Party, and have those registrations tallied by elections officials. Although most voter registration forms don’t list the Libertarian Party as a choice, the forms all have a blank line, so the word “Libertarian” can be written in.

In most states with registration by party, when a party goes off the ballot, elections officials acknowledge that the party continues to have registered members. North Carolina is different. A few months after the November 2004 election, elections officials forcibly converted all the Libertarians to “independent”, unless those Libertarians chose to become Republicans or Democrats. The party thus lost over 13,000 registrants, and must start again from a baseline of zero. Even voters whose original signed voter registration form still says “Libertarian” must re-register as Libertarians.

The reason voters can now register “Libertarian” and have that tallied is because the state acknowledges that the party’s recent petition drive did succeed in gathering enough signatures. Thanks to Michael Morrison for this news.

Brook Thompson, Tennessee Coordinator of Elections for many years, has changed his interpretation of how an independent presidential candidate gets on the ballot. The old interpretation, in effect for many years, required 25 voters to sign eleven different petitions, each petition to nominate a single presidential elector candidate. The new interpretation requires 275 voters to sign a single petition that lists all eleven presidential elector candidates. Thanks to Matt Erard for this news.

Although it continues to be the case that the list of electors must include one person who lives in each Tennessee US House district, the location of the 275 signers is immaterial. They simply must be registered voters anywhere in Tennessee. Any adult may circulate the petition, regardless of whether the circulator is a Tennessee resident or not. The State Elections Division will furnish the blank petition forms. The deadline continues to be August 21.