Late today, a Superior Court Judge in California ruled that Donna Frye was not elected Mayor of San Diego, even though she received more votes than any of her opponents. An appeal is being pursued.
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The Secretary of State of Arkansas has ruled that a group may circulate a petition to qualify a new party, at any time. However, the petition must be completed within 150 days, or approximately 5 months.
Formerly, the petition to create a new party could only be circulated in an odd year, between January and May.
It is an advantage that a group can circulate the petition to qualify as a party during an odd year, because paid petitioners charge much less money during odd years, because there isn’t as much work for them to do.
No group has ever qualified as a party by petition in Arkansas, except the Reform Party in 1996. Before 1971 Arkansas didn’t require a petition; a group merely applied, and gained status as a party by that simple request.
There is still as dispute as to how many signatures are needed to qualify a new party in Arkansas. In 1996 a federal court ruled that the number needed for a new party cannot exceed 10,000 (which is the number needed for a non-presidential statewide independent). Even though the state didn’t appeal this decision, the state claims that it need not obey the court ruling.
The Arizona Judiciary Committee approved SB 1218, even after hearing testimony from the public against it. The bill says that if someone tries and fails to get on the ballot as an independent candidate, he or she cannot then file as a declared write-in candidate. Paul Dunakin from the Nader testified against it, but no Senator made any comment in response to his testimony, and none of the Senators voted against it.
The Arizona State Senate Judiciary Committee will hear SB 1218 on the afternoon of Jan. 31. The hearing convenes at 1:30 pm, but SB 1218 will probably not be brought up until about 3:30 pm. SB 1218, sec. 6, says that if an independent candidate tries and fails to get on the ballot, then he or she can’t be a write-in candidate either. The bill seems aimed at Nader supporters. Nader tried and failed to qualify as an independent. Later, he filed for write-ins and status and received 2,773 write-in votes. If this bill had been in effect, these votes would not have been counted.
If you wish to oppose SB 1218, you can fax the Senate Judiciary Committee chairman, John Huppenthal, at 602-417-3157. His e-mail is jhuppenthal@azleg.state.az.us.
Plaintiffs were backers of several initiatives that had been circulating during 2004. The proponents were legally permitted to finish the drive as late as December 2004, to qualify for the November 2006 ballot. Unfortunately, when they submitted the signatures in December 2004, the state said, “Sorry; the number of signatures depends on the last vote cast, and the number of votes cast in November 2004 (which is much higher than the 2002 number) now applies. The decision means that an initiative to legalize marijuana, and two initiatives dealing with tobacco, will now appear on the November 2006 ballot, unless of course the state appeals and gets the decision reversed.