The February 11 Conservative Voice has this essay on attempts to draft Bob Barr as the Libertarian Party’s presidential nominee. Thanks to Eric Garris for the link.
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On February 10, Senator Hillary Clinton told an audience in Washington, D.C., that she supports full voting rights for D.C. voters. The United States is the world’s only nation with free elections that deprives residents of its capital city full representation in national legislative bodies.
The Daily Voice carries this commentary by Lenora Fulani on the 2008 presidential election. Although Fulani does not endorse any presidential candidate, she clearly looks with favor on Barack Obama. Lenora Fulani was the New Alliance Party presidential candidate in 1988 and 1992. In 1988 she was on the ballot in all 50 states. Among general election presidential candidates who polled at least one-fifth of 1%, in the entire history of the U.S., she is the only woman on that list of general election presidential candidates, and also the only non-Caucasian person on that list.
On February 6, the New Mexico House passed HB 190, which makes it easier for candidates to get on a primary ballot. An identical bill, SB 1, had passed the Senate a few days earlier.
The bills restore the law to the way it was until 2007. Until 2007, someone who failed to get at least 20% support at a party endorsements or nominating convention could still get on the primary ballot by collecting signatures of party members. That petition requirement was 4% of that party’s primary vote for Governor in the last gubernatorial election (within that particular district, of course). But the 2007 legislature had repealed this procedure, so that it was impossible for anyone to run in a primary without having shown support at a party meeting. Now, the 2008 legislature is undoing what it did in 2007. SB 1 passed unanimously and HB 190 passed 57-1.
It is somewhat humorous to watch state legislators pass a bill unanimously in one year, and then to pass a bill (almost unanimously) in the second year of the same session to completely undo what the same legislators had done the year before. The reversal was caused by the fact that the U.S. Senate seat up this year in New Mexico has no incumbent running for re-election. Furthermore, all three U.S. House seats also have no incumbent running for re-election. This causes many prominent Democrats and Republicans to file for these seats, and even some candidates with considerable backing may fail to get 20% of the vote at the party endorsements conventions.
Assuming either HB 190 or SB 1 is signed into law soon, the lawsuit Wiviott v State will become moot.
On January 18, 2008, a Minnesota state court ruled that Minnesota elections officials should have furnished declaration of candidacy forms to a man who is currently an inmate in the Faribault State Prison. Leonard J. Richards had begun trying to run for Congress since 2005, but state prisons officials determined, “Offenders are not allowed to run for office.” Also, the Secretary of State, and county elections officials, refused to respond to Richards’ letters asking for the forms. In Minnesota, candidates may obtain a place on a party primary ballot by paying a filing fee; no petition is required.
Richards then sued in federal court, but his lawsuit was transferred to State Court, Rice County district court. The case is Richards v Windschitl, 66-cv-06-1517. The order says, “Mark Ritchie as Secretary of State and his Office, shall provide to the plaintiff the appropriate forms allowing him the ability to file for federal elective office, without interference.” Also, “Mark Ritchie as Secretary of State and his Office, shall provide Plaintiff with the number of write in votes he received in the 2006 election. This information shall be provided within 30 days from the date of this Order.”
Under U.S. Term Limits v Thornton, the U.S. Supreme Court opinion that struck down term limits laws for federal office, neither states nor the federal government can add to the qualifications listed in the U.S. Constitution to run for Congress.