On July 15, the faction of the Prohibition Party that does not recognize Earl Dodge as national chair, issued its convention call. The convention will be Sep. 13-14, 2007 at the Adams Mark Hotel, 2544 Executive Drive, Indianapolis In 46241, starting at 9 a.m. The call is issued in the name of Gene Amondson, national chair, Box K, Vashon Wa 98070, geneamo@netzero.net, 203-463-6333. Delegates are requested to register in advance.
On July 23, a Quinnipiac University poll was released for a proposed general election presidential race in Florida. It was conducted July 12-16 and included 1,106 sample members.
With only Rudy Giuliani and Hillary Clinton in the mix, the results are: Giuliani 46%, Clinton 44%, other and undecided 10%.
With Bloomberg included, the results are: Clinton 41%, Giuliani 39%, Mike Bloomberg 9%, other and undecided 11%.
Also, 57% of respondents say they don’t know enough about Bloomberg to have an opinion.
The Libertarian Party National Committee met in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on July 21-22. The committee authorized spending national party funds to finish the South Dakota and Nebraska party petitions. Both states have severe winters, and it is considered practical to finish the job in good weather months. So far, no state Libertarian Party has regained ballot status since the November 2006 election, although Utah is close.
On July 20, Indiana independent candidate Mark Herak filed a lawsuit to get back on the November 2007 ballot. He is running for re-election to the city council of Highland, a small city in Lake County, Indiana. His ballot label is “Highland First Party.”
He was removed from the ballot by the Lake County Election Board on July 18, on the grounds that he isn’t a “true” independent. However, Indiana election law does not limit who may be an independent candidate, except that the candidate must not have lost a partisan primary for the same office in the same election year.
The Board said he isn’t a “true” independent because he won the previous election as a Republican nominee, because he voted in the May 2007 Republican primary, and because he still has custody of a piece of Republican Party equipment in his garage. That piece of equipment is a hot dog vendor stand. The vote on the Board was 3-2, with the Republican members voting to keep Herak off the ballot and the Democratic members voting to leave him on the ballot. The lawsuit is called Herak v Lake County Election Board, and it has a hearing in Hammond, Indiana, at 9 am on Wednesday, July 25.
On July 18, New Hampshire SB 98 was signed into law. It provides that the statewide list of registered voters should be provided to qualified political parties, for $25 plus 50 cents per thousand names. The bill does not authorize anyone but qualified parties to obtain the list.
The statewide list of registered voters in fairly new in New Hampshire. Until a few years ago, there was no statewide list, and anyone who wanted such a list had to deal with hundreds of town clerks in each town in the state.
In 1970 the U.S. Supreme Court summarily affirmed a decision of a 3-judge district court. That decision, Socialist Workers Party v Rockefeller, said that if the government gives a free or inexpensive list of all the registered voters to qualified parties, it must also give the list on the same terms to unqualified parties that are trying to petition themselves or their nominees onto the ballot. The case is at 314 F Supp 984 (1970), affirmed, 400 US 806. The relevant part of the decision is at pages 995-996. This information has been forwarded to the New Hampshire Secretary of State’s office, which is asking the Attorney General for an opinion.
Since November 1996, New Hampshire has not recognized any parties except the Democratic and Republican Parties. It is the only New England state in which no other parties have enjoyed qualified status, at any time during the last ten years.
