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Nebraska Governor Vetoes Bill that Crimped Petitioning

Posted on February 13, 2008 by Richard WingerFebruary 13, 2008

On February 13, Nebraska Governor Dave Heineman vetoed LD 39. LD 39 made it illegal for non-residents of Nebraska to circulate any petitions in Nebraska. It also made it illegal for anyone to pay anyone on a per-signature basis for petitioning. Heineman is a Republican. He is very popular; he was elected in November 2006 with 73.4% of the vote.

There is a danger that the unicameral State Senate will override the Governor’s veto. The original vote was 31-14, with 4 Senators not voting. If you live in Nebraska, please ask your State Senator to uphold the veto. Thanks to Sean Haugh for this news. UPDATE: the vote on whether the Governor’s veto will be overriden is set for Tuesday, February 19.

Green Presidential Primaries Summarized

Posted on February 13, 2008 by Richard WingerFebruary 13, 2008

See this post from Babblemur, giving the latest results on the various Green Party presidential primaries, including a delegate count. Green Party presidential primaries are all used to determine which delegates are selected to the national convention in Chicago in July 2008. Green Party presidential primaries are not just “beauty contests”. Thanks to ThirdPartyWatch for the link.

The Arizona Libertarian presidential primary results are still not tabulated, but will be tabulated within a week. The Arizona Libertarian primary was run by the party itself, via the internet.

Minor Party Petitioning Update

Posted on February 13, 2008 by Richard WingerFebruary 13, 2008

The North Carolina Libertarian Party is not finished with its party petition after all. Yesterday’s posting is erroneous. The party still needs between 4,000 and 8,000 signatures. Since the state willingly accepts petitions on a flow basis, and checks them quickly, the party will know exactly how many more it needs, and can get that number. The deadline is in May.

In Utah, the deadline is Friday, February 15. The Libertarian and Personal Choice Parties are virtually finished. The Green Party is making a last-minute push to qualify in Utah as well. 2,000 signatures are needed.

New Hampshire Followup Court Hearing on Registered Voter List

Posted on February 13, 2008 by Richard WingerFebruary 13, 2008

On November 26, 2007, a New Hampshire state court had ruled unconstitutional a law that said the statewide list of registered voters should be given to qualified political parties, but no one else. Only the Democratic and Republican Parties are qualified in New Hampshire.

On February 12, the court held another hearing to decide what to do about the fact that the Democratic and Republican Parties had already received the list. Here is a Concord Monitor story about that hearing. The Libertarian Party, which brought the lawsuit, turned down the idea that the solution is just to give the statewide list to the party. This was a principled decision, since the list is very valuable, as the article reveals. Thanks to Marc Montoni for the link.

D.C. Green Presidential Primary Results

Posted on February 12, 2008 by Richard WingerFebruary 12, 2008

The District of Columbia Board of Elections has these preliminary totals for the Green Party presidential primary:

Cynthia McKinney 99
write-ins 62
no candidate 23
Jared Ball 12
Kent Mesplay 9
Howie Hawkins 7
Kat Swift 6
Jesse Johnson 5

The D.C. Green Party won a lawsuit in 2004 to force the D.C. Board of Elections to count write-ins in its presidential primary. Therefore, presumably in the next few weeks, the write-ins in this primary will also be counted.