Honolulu, Hawaii elects non-partisan neighborhood board members in odd years. This year, voters will be able to vote on the internet for this low-profile office. The city elections department is working with Commercial Data Services Inc., a company that has more than 18 years experience in providing secure online data services. Thanks to Thad Hall for this news.
On February 20, eight West Virginia legislators introduced HB 3144, to move the petition deadline for unqualified party and independent candidates from May to August. The presidential petition deadline is already in August, so the bill would change petition deadlines for office other than president to match the presidential petition deadline. The chief sponsor is Delegate Barbara Fleischauer, who is the wife of Law Professor Bob Bastress. Bastress has done virtually all of the ballot access litigation in West Virginia for 26 years, and has won many cases. He currently has a case pending in the State Supreme Court on the constitutionality of the May petition deadline.
The bill’s other Democratic sponsors are Alex Shook, Linda Longstreth, Bonnie Brown, Danny Wells, Barbara Hatfield, and John Doyle. The bill also has a Republican sponsor, Bill Hamilton.
Georgia HB 487 is considered likely to pass. It would move the presidential primary from March to the first Tuesday in February. It would also change the percentage of the total vote needed to avoid a run-off election or a run-off primary from 50% to 45%. Georgia is the only state that requires candidates in general elections to receive a majority, or any particular specified percentage, of the total vote.
Jerry Rafshoon and Doug Bailey, two founders of Unity08, answered questions on-line on February 16. Some of the most interesting questions and answers are these:
1. Question: what if the candidate we choose fares well and wins one of the major party primaries? Answer by Jerry Rafshoon: We will not be choosing our candidate until the other parties have anointed their candidate, which, as always, will happen early in the process. Therefore, it is doubtful that that candidate will try for our nomination. However, he or she is eligible to do so, but would have to choose a running mate who is not a member of his or her party.
2. Question: what about congressional candidates? Answer by Jerry Rafshoon: It is not our intention to field any candidate for Congress.
3. Question: can we get our nominee on the ballot of all states? Answer by Doug Bailey: It is doable. In some states it is remarkably doable. One reason is that third party candidates over the last 20 years have fought enough battles in the courts to lower the requirements in state after state.
To read the entire set of questions ans answers, go to www.unity08.com. The webpage also lists the organization’s Rules Committee, which is composed of these ten individuals: Co-chairs Carolyn Tieger and Thomas Collier; and members Michael Turk, Valerie Syme, Sayuri Matthews, David C. King, Dennis G. Johnson, Anna Friedinger, Will Fogal, and Peter Ackerman.
A bill has been introduced in the Minnesota House to repeal the law that requires a certain minimum number of votes in a primary, before a party can successfully nominate any candidates in a primary. It is HF 616. The law says if a party fails to attract a number of primary voters, equal to 10% of its last general election vote, then all its primary nominees are disqualified. The law was declared unconstitutional in 2004 by the Minnesota Supreme Court, so it is a void law. Nevertheless, it’s always good for a state legislature to repeal such laws and get them off the statute books.
