The joint Nader-Constitution Party lawsuit against Hawaii’s petition-checking procedures had been set for a trial in federal court in Honolulu for March 4. However, it is been postponed until March 10. Thanks to Dorothy Cornell for this news.
Reply
The Arizona Libertarian Party was entitled to its own government-financed presidential primary last month. But the party, as it had done once before, asked the state government not to hold a presidential primary for itself. Instead, the party planned its own on-line presidential primary. The party sent out a press release, accurately saying that its decision was saving Arizona taxpayers approximately $1,000,000.
Since the party’s primary was simultaneous with the government-funded major party presidential primaries, i.e., February 5, one would have expected the party to have announced the results long before now. It turns out that the party promoted its own presidential primary very badly, and fewer than 70 voters participated. The party has been embarassed by the tiny turnout and that is the reason it still hasn’t posted the results.
The Utah legislature adjourned for the year on the evening of February 5. SB 126 failed to pass the House. It had passed the Senate unanimously in January 2008.
The bill would have forced declared write-in candidates to pay the same filing fee that ballot-listed candidates must pay (only “paupers” are exempt). Utah filing fees are high. For U.S. Senate, for example, they are approximately $1,200.
The probable reason for the bill’s failure to pass, was that I e-mailed all the Utah House members that similar filing fees for write-in candidates had been declared unconstitutional in federal court in Maryland and West Virginia, and by state court in California. Also the Utah ACLU helped circulate this information.
The basis for these court decisions is the principle that the only permissible reason for filing fees is to keep ballots from being too crowded. Normally, governments cannot require either voters or candidates to pay money, in order to vote or to run for office. Despite this general rule, filing fees are permitted (for those who can afford them) because they are needed for the compelling reason of keeping ballots uncluttered. But fees on write-ins obviously don’t relate to that purpose.
The March 6 issue of the Boston-Bay State Banner has this story about Roger Calero, presidential candidate of the Socialist Workers Party.
On February 29, the Washington State Senate Government Operations & Elections Committee passed HB 1534. That is the bill that switches Washington state to the petition system, as opposed to the venerable old Washington habit of counting heads at nominating conventions. The Senate Committee also added an emergency clause, so the bill takes effect immediately if it passes.