The Arizona Green Party now has 5,000 signatures on its petition to qualify itself as a party. 20,449 valid signatures are needed by March 6, 2008.
The Ohio Libertarian Party now has 2,500 signatures on its petition to qualify itself as a party, even though the drive only started ten days ago. 20,114 valid signatures are needed by November 26, 2007.
HB 3040 in the Oregon legislature has not advanced far enough to have any chance of passage, since the legislative session is almost over in that state. HB 3040 is the bill to legalize fusion.
On June 25, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled part of the McCain-Feingold federal campaign law unconstitutional, as applied to broadcast ads paid for by a corporation that mention a candidate for federal office but do not mention the upcoming election. Federal Election Commission v Wisconsin Right to Life, no. 06-969. Chief Justice Roberts wrote the decision, but his opinion was joined only by Justice Alito. Justices Kennedy, Scalia and Thomas would have held that part of the McCain-Feingold law to be unconstitutional on its face, not just as applied to certain types of ads.
This outcome should make it somewhat easier for minor parties to someday challenge another part of the McCain-Feingold law, the part that limits the amount of money that individuals can contribute to new or minor parties. The Supreme Court’s 2003 decision, upholding McCain-Feingold on its face, had said that the act could still be challenged by certain types of plaintiffs, in as-applied challenges. Since one type of as-applied challenge has now succeeded, it is more plausible that other such challenges will succeed. The outcome will probably also help Unity08 to win its pending lawsuit against the FEC. The issue in Unity08’s case is the FEC decision that no one may give or loan Unity08 more than $5,000.
On June 24, U.S. Senator Sam Brownback was asked whether he would agree to inclusive general election debates, if he becomes the Republican nominee. He expressed fear that there would be too many candidates, and said he would need to think about it. This occurred in Roland, Iowa. Thanks to Larry Reinsch for having raised this issue with Senator Brownback. Reinsch is also the person who asked Senator Hillary Clinton and Senator Barack Obama the same question earlier this month.
It should be noted that in all U.S. history, there has never been a presidential general election with more than 7 presidential candidates who were theoretically able to be elected. Specifically, there has never been an election with more than 7 presidential candidates who were on the ballot in states containing a majority of the electoral college.
There were no government-printed ballots before 1889, so for the elections before then, this statement refers to the ability of various presidential candidates to circulate private ballots. There were never more than 7 such candidates in that period either. In the period 1856 to the present, the average number of presidential candidates who could theoretically have been elected has only been 4.3 candidates.
A group of Washington state minor party activists have been meeting with each other, and have finished drafting proposed legislation which would improve ballot access for minor parties. Currently, Washington is the only state in the western half of the United States which lacks any procedure by which a group can transform itself into a qualified party, in advance of any particular election. Instead, all Washington state has are procedures for the nominees of unqualified parties to get on the ballot. If one of those statewide nominees gets 5% of the vote, then and only then does that group become a qualified party.
The draft bill would provide that if a group submits 1,000 signatures by May of an election year, then it is a qualified minor party. It then may nominate by convention, and all its nominees are automatically placed on the general election ballot. The draft also provides that if one of that party’s statewide nominees polls 1% of the vote, it retains its qualified status.
The group is looking for legislators who will sponsor the bill. To get in touch with the group, contact Linde Knighton at waprog2@yahoo.com.
