Oklahomans for Ballot Access Reform (OBAR) has re-launched the initiative that would ask the Oklahoma voters if they wish to ease the ballot access laws. Oklahoma law requires initiative petitions to be completed within 90 days, but the group backing the initiative chooses its own 90-day period. The original petition was launched on September 15, but since it was mostly dependent on volunteer circulators, it had only collected 2,700 signatures during the first three weeks.

The new campaign will run from October 15 through January 13, and will depend on paid circulators. The Committee will be quite careful to make sure all circulators are Oklahoma residents. The new initiative has been re-worded somewhat. The biggest change is that the vote test for a party to remain on the ballot will be 2%, not 1% as in the first attempt. Circulators of the first attempt got a sense that some voters thought a 1% vote test is too easy. The national median vote test of all 50 states is 2%, so the new initiative can honestly tell voters that the initiative merely will put Oklahoma into the national average. The vote test is 2% of the vote for any statewide race at either of the last two elections. Oklahoma has approximately 10 statewide partisan races in mid-term years.

For more information, see www.okvoterchoice.org. If you have donated to this initiative, your contribution has not been wasted. The first attempt only used up $1,500.

Oklahoma state officials recommend that an initiative be submitted eight months before the election. The new initiative attempt will be complete on January 13, so, assuming it qualifies, it will appear on the November 2008 ballot. Any attempt to qualify the initiative earlier than that might have meant that the initiative would have appeared on the primary ballot, which would have been a strategic error, since independents can’t vote in Oklahoma primaries (except they can vote on ballot questions). It is desired that the initiative be placed on a ballot when sizeable numbers of independent voters will be voting.

As noted earlier, there are two federal cases filed by Florida voters or elected office-holders, against the Democratic National Committee, on the Committee’s decision to deprive Florida of any delegates to the national convention. The first one, which lost on October 5, has been appealed to the 11th circuit. That one is DiMaio v Democratic National Committee, middle district. The second one, filed by U.S. Senator Bill Nelson, still doesn’t have a hearing date in the U.S. District Court, northern district. It is called Nelson v Dean.

On October 15, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear City of Modesto v Sanchez, 07-88. This had been an attempt by the City of Modesto to have the California Voting Rights Act declared to be a violation of the U.S. Constitution. The California Voting Rights Act forces cities to use district elections when the evidence shows that the at-large system makes it almost impossible for substantial racial and ethnic minorities to elect anyone from their own group.