Massachusetts Releases List of Dem, Rep Presidential Primary Candidates; Won’t Release Green list Until December 10

Posted on by December 7, 2007
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Massachusetts has four ballot-qualified parties: Democratic, Republican, Green-Rainbow, and Working Families. The Working Families Party isn’t holding a presidential primary.

The other three parties are holding a presidential primary. The Massachusetts Secretary of State has already released the list of Democratic and Republican primary candidates. The Green-Rainbow list won’t be released until December 10.

The Democratic candidates are: Biden, Clinton, Dodd, Edwards, Gravel, Kucinich, Obama, Richardson.

The Republican candidates are: Giuliani, Huckabee, Hunter, McCain, Paul, Romney, Tancredo, Thompson.

The Republican state chair did not include Alan Keyes in his recommendations to the Secretary of State, even though Keyes is in the Republican presidential primaries in most states.

Arizona Senator Willing to Again Introduce Ballot Access Reform

Posted on by December 7, 2007
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Arizona Senator Karen Johnson has said she is willing to again introduce a bill to make it easier for new parties to get on the Arizona ballot. No petition to put a new (or previously unqualified) party on the Arizona ballot has succeeded since 2000.

Senator Johnson’s previous bills to ease the number of signatures always made some headway in the Arizona legislature, but they never passed.

New Hampshire Bill to Expand Who Can Obtain List of Registered Voters

Posted on by December 7, 2007
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New Hampshire Senator Peter Burling has introduced a bill for the 2008 session, to expand the list of who may obtain the statewide list of registered voters. This is in response to last month’s court decision, striking down the old law. The old law said only qualified parties could obtain the list. New Hampshire has only two qualified parties. The Libertarian Party had filed the lawsuit.

Unfortunately, the text of 2008 bills is not yet available. A telephone call has been placed to Senator Burling, and perhaps it will be possible to learn how the new bill is worded, and which groups and individuals are included in the new bill.

D.C. Government Likely to Launch Ad Campaign over Lack of Voting Representation in Congress

Posted on by December 7, 2007
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On December 6, a committee of the District of Columbia held a hearing on a proposal to advertise the District’s lack of voting representation in Congress. The proposal includes large electronic signs at major sports stadiums. It is likely that private funding would be available. The Committee is not permitted to approve the idea for a certain number of days after the hearing, but Committee approval is expected in January 2008. The signs will emphasize that D.C. residents have paid billions in federal taxes over the decades.

The United States is the world’s only nation that has elections for representatives to the national legislature, but gives no representation in that legislature to residents of its capital city.

At Least Six Democrats Submit Petitions for New York Presidential Primary

Posted on by December 7, 2007
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New York Democratic presidential primary candidates need 5,000 signatures to be on that ballot. December 6 was the deadline, but the signatures can be mailed and postmarked on that day, so the list may not be final.

Already filed are petitions for Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, Dennis Kucinich, Barack Obama, and Bill Richardson. Possibly in the mail are a Chris Dodd petition and a Mike Gravel petition. Hillary Clinton seemed to file the most signatures, approximately 62,000.

Republicans in New York’s presidential primary are listed automatically if they are discussed in the major news media, or if they qualify for primary season matching funds. None of New York’s three other ballot-qualified parties are holding a presidential primary.