Mike Gravel’s campaign announced today that we would seek the Libertarian Party nomination for President.
This comes one day after Gravel announced that he is joining the LP.
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A U.S. District Court in Detroit, Michigan will hear Green Party of Michigan v Land, at 2 pm, on Wednesday, March 26. This is the case that challenges a Michigan law that the list of presidential primary voters should be given to the Democratic and Republican Parties, and no other parties. It is case 2:08-cv-10149 and is in courtroom 226, before Judge Nancy Edmunds, a Bush Sr. appointee.
On March 25, the Hawaii House Judiciary Committee passed the National Popular Vote Plan bill by 12-2. It is SB 2898. It passed the Senate last month. It now goes to the House.
Although the Hawaii legislature passed the National Popular Vote Plan bill in 2007, Governor Linda Lingle vetoed it. However, her veto would have been overridden except that some representatives had gone home early (since the legislature was in the process of adjourning), before voting on the veto override. This year, it is somewhat likely that Governor Lingle will veto it again, and that her veto will then be overridden.
On March 17, two bills were introduced in the Idaho Senate to revise the primary system. Idaho now uses an Open Primary, in which each voter on primary day decides in the secrecy of the voting booth which party primary to vote in.
S. 1506 would provide for registration by party, and also would legalize nominating conventions for parties that would rather use conventions than primaries (Idaho already has conventions for new parties).
S. 1507 would authorize closed primaries. Neither bill has made any headway as of March 25.
Last week, filing closed for Idaho primaries. One of the candidates who filed in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate is Marvin Richardson, who legally changed his name last year to “Pro-Life.” The Secretary of State accepted his filing, saying since “Pro-Life” is the new legal name of the candidate, he has no choice but to list him.
However, on March 24, S. 1514 was introduced in the Idaho Senate, saying if a candidate changes his name so that the new name seems intended to convey a political message, then the candidate must have in parentheses after his name, “A person formerly known as (blank)”. The bill passed the Senate unanimously on the same day it was introduced, and if it is signed into law, takes effect immediately. The Idaho primary is in May.