On July 31, Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski signed HB 2082. It makes it more difficult for initiatives to get on the ballot. Paid circulators may not work until they have completed a government class. Paid circulators must use different colored petitions than those used by unpaid circulators. There are a host of other new regulations, all of which make the process more cumbersome. The bill was sponsored by Secretary of State Bill Bradbury.
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.
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.
