The Illinois legislature, for the third time, has extended the deadline to pass two election law bills. They are the National Popular Vote Plan, and the bill to make some ballot access improvements. The new deadline is August 10.
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Georgia’s former U.S. Senator Sam Nunn said on August 3 that he sympathizes with the people who are building Unity08, or people who want someone like Michael Bloomberg to run for president as an independent. See this article.
On August 2, a local state court in Lake County, Indiana, restored Mark Herak to the November ballot. He is an incumbent member of the city council, running for re-election. This year he decided to run as an independent, under the label “Highland First Party.” The County Board of Elections removed him from the November 2007 ballot, even though his petition was sufficient, because Herak had voted in this year’s Republican primary. However, nothing in Indiana election law says an independent candidate must not have voted in a primary. There will probably be no appeal.
On August 3, the state of Idaho responded to the lawsuit filed by many Republican activists last month. The activists, including some state legislators and many state party officers, filed the lawsuit to obtain a closed primary for the Republican Party.
The state’s response says that the Idaho Republican Party itself did not file the lawsuit, and uses that point to argue that the lawsuit should be dismissed. The state chair of the Idaho Republican Party does not agree with the lawsuit. The case is 07-299, U.S. District Court.
Here is the Iowa petition, by which an unqualified party in Iowa can obtain the ability to be mentioned on the voter registration form, in the part of the form that asks which party the voter is joining. The particular petition shown is the Iowa Green Party’s petition. It needs 850 signatures. No other state has ever had a procedure whereby an unqualified party can obtain the ability to be mentioned on a voter registration form, by petition.
Previous posts on this page, and in the written newsletter Ballot Access News, about the Iowa procedure, have said that the parties that submit this petition must be written in on the voter registration form. However, those previous writings were in error. Parties that comply with the 850-signature petition will actually be listed on the form. Thanks to Holly Hart for this news.