On May 5, Delaware held a special election to fill the vacant seat in the House, 41st district. The results were: Gregory Hastings, Republican, 42.8%; Lynn Bullock, Democrat, 38.1%; John Atkins, write-in, 12.9%; John Burton, Independent Party, 6.2%.
The same seat in November 2006 voted this way: Republican 62.7%; Democratic 35.1%; Independent Party 2.2%.
The Legal Affairs Director for the Ohio Secretary of State, Laurel Beatty, has scheduled a June 5 meeting, to discuss emergency regulations on how new political parties qualify for the ballot. The old law was declared unconstitutional last year. No bills are pending in the legislature to replace the old law. Therefore, the Secretary of State will probably draw up a regulation for a temporary replacement for the old law. The old law required a petition signed by 1% of the last vote cast, due 4 months before the primary. The 6th circuit determined that it is too harsh, given that no groups had used it since 2000.
The May 3 Scotland Parliamentary Election used a mixture of single-member constituencies and proportional representation. 129 seats were up. 73 members were elected from districts, the old-fashioned way that has always been used in the U.S. (in other words, whichever candidate gets the most votes, is elected). The other 56 seats were filled proportionately.
Voters voted for a district member. Then, in a different part of the ballot, they voted for their favorite party, for the non-district seats. The results: Labor received 37 district seats but only 9 more proportionate seats, for a total of 46. The Scottish National Party won 21 district seats but 26 more seats from the proportionate part of the ballot, for a total of 47. The Conservative Party won only 4 district seats, but 13 more proportionate seats. The Liberal Democrats won 11 district seats and 5 more proportionate seats. The Green Party won 2 seats, and one independent was elected.
Even though the Scotland Parliamentary elections had used this same system in 2003, this time there was confusion. Whereas in 2003 there had been one ballot for the district seats and one district for the at-large seats, this time there was only one ballot for both types of seats. Unfortunately, the directions said “vote twice”. The people who wrote the directions meant to explain to voters to vote both for a district seat, and an at-large seat. But some voters tried to vote for 2 candidates for a district seat, or tried to make 2 choices for the at-large seats. Approximately 100,000 ballots were spoiled.
Completely separate from the Parliamentary election, were elections for local council, held all over Great Britain except for London. In Scotland, these elections used Single Transferrable Vote, which had not been used in Scotland before. It worked well.
The Simi Valley Republican presidential debate of May 3 did not cover any matters concerning voting rights or election law, except that each of the 10 presidential candidates was asked about changing the U.S. Constitution to let foreign-born citizens run for President. Rudy Giuliani and Mike Huckabee said “yes”, and John McCain said he is undecided. The others said “no.”
Ron Paul did not utter the word “libertarian”, yet the press coverage of the debate consistently described him with that adjective. The Boston Globe said he is a “fiery libertarian”; Newsweek says he is a “Libertarian Republican”; National Review Online mentioned his “non-interventionist libertarian position”; Bloomberg.com says Paul “echoed the libertarian themes on warrantless searches and foreign policy”; the New York Sun said Paul is a “pure libertarian”; the Long Island Press said Paul is “a one-time Libertarian Party presidential nominee”; the Brazosport Facts (a newspaper in Paul’s district) referred to his “libertarian views”; the Ventura County Star called him “a libertarian who voted against the Iraq war at the outset.” It is almost as though the Libertarian Party was represented in the debate, at least for those voters who are reading the press on May 4.
As reported earlier, the Illinois Senate has unanimously passed SB 733, which sets the minor party and independent petition requirements at approximately one-fourth of 1% of the last vote cast. But the Illinois House has unanimously passed HB 632, which sets them at 5% of the last vote cast.
Anyone who lives in Illinois should contact state legislators and point out that 5% would give Illinois the 2nd most stringent requirement in the country, for district and county office petitions. Every other state except Georgia and Alabama has some procedure onto the general election ballot, for US House and state legislature, that is at or below 2% of the last vote cast. Sometimes that procedure is for minor or new parties; sometimes it is for independent candidates. Only Georgia, Alabama and Illinois set all routes onto the November ballot (for district and county office) at a level above 2% of the last vote cast. Alabama is at 3% of the last gubernatorial vote; Georgia is 5% of the number of registered voters.
For coordination with other Illinois activists, contact Jeff Trigg at 309-282-6139.
