In the November 2006 elections, the most successful Reform Party candidate for an important office was Eric Eidsness. He polled 11.3% in a 3-way race for U.S. House in Colorado’s 4th district. He recently changed his registration to join the Democratic Party, and he plans to run for the same seat in 2008 as a Democrat. In 2006, the 4th district was won by Republican incumbent Marilyn Musgrave with only 45.6%.
The Alabama legislature adjourned for the year on June 7. The only election bill of interest that passed was one moving the presidential primary (but not the primary for other office) from June to February.
Bills to provide for a declaration of write-in candidacy, to apportion electoral votes in proportion to the popular vote, to pass the National Popular Vote Compact, all failed to pass.
The legislature got bad publicity on its last day, when a Republican State Senator punched a Democratic State Senator in the face, on the Senate floor.
Gregorio Igartua and seven other adult U.S. Citizens who reside in Puerto Rico filed a complaint last year against the United States for refusing to let them vote for president. The complaint was filed before the Organization of American States, and invokes the OAS Democratic Charter, which the United States signed long ago. The OAS will soon decide whether to schedule a hearing. It is cse P-776-06.
Igartua filed a supplemental brief on June 6, 2007, noting that the United States had invoked the OAS Democratic Charter on June 4. The United States invoked it against Venezuela because the Venezuelan government closed down a major broadcasting station. Thanks to Michael Richardson for this news.
The Pennsylvania constitutional ballot access case Rogers v Corbett will soon be presented to the U.S. Supreme Court. This is the case that challenges Pennsylvania law that says that even if a party meets the state’s definition of “party” (by having polled 2% of the vote in the last election), it can’t be on the ballot automatically unless it has registration of 15% of the state total.
The Center for Competitive Democracy plans to file an amicus curiae brief, urging the U.S. Supreme Court to hear Rogers v Corbett. The Center for Competitive Democracy is a non-partisan, non-profit 501(c)(3) organization founded in 2005. Its mission is to strengthen American democracy by increasing electoral competition. The Center’s amicus brief will probably be filed not only on its own behalf, but on behalf of some individual Pennsylvania voters who cast write-in votes in November 2006 for the nominees of the various parties that were kept off the ballot, and then discovered that Pennsylvania elections officials had not counted those write-ins. Thus, Pennsylvania’s system of excluding all statewide minor party candidates in 2006 not only injured those parties and their candidates, but it also deprived some voters of their right to vote. Pennsylvania law requires that all write-ins be counted and canvassed, but the law is routinely ignored in many counties.
On June 7, the California Assembly passed AB 583 by 45-34. It provides for public funding for elections for state office. It is moderately discriminatory against minor party members, and severely discriminatory against independent candidates. The bill was amended so that it would only apply to three offices in 2010: Governor, one State Senate race, and one Assembly race.
