The California Assembly went on a recess on July 19, and won’t return until August 20. Various election law bills that had already passed the Senate and all Assembly committees won’t get a vote in the full Assembly until August 20 at the earliest. They include SB 408 (to restrict who can circulate statewide initiatives), SB 439 (to count write-ins when the voter forgets to “x” the box next to the name written in), and SB 37 (the National Popular Vote plan for presidential elections).

If you are motivated to help protect the initiative process, and especially if you live in California, now is a good time to contact your Assemblymember and express opposition to SB 408.

The Arkansas Green Party expects to begin its 2008 petition for ballot status on July 24. Currently, there are no qualified parties on the ballot in Arkansas except for the two major parties. Parties set their own petitioning period, but must get the job done in only 60 days. 10,000 valid signatures are required.

Parties that only wish to be on for president only need 1,000, and can take as long as they wish.

UPDATE: The Green petition will start on July 30.

The 10th circuit has tentatively set October 1, 2007 as the hearing date in Libertarian Party of New Mexico v Vigil-Giron, 06-2303. This is the case challenging the state’s policy of one petition to qualify a new party (which then nominates by convention), and then separate hefty petitions for each person the party nominates. The party argues that one petition should be sufficient to show that the party has a modicum of voter support, and additional petitions for all of its nominees have no function. The lower court had upheld the law without even scheduling a hearing. The main issue before the 10th circuit is whether the U.S. District Court should have gathered evidence before ruling. The 10th circuit hearing is in Denver.