Maryland HB 826 would require parties to let independents vote in their primaries. Michigan HB 4098 would convert the state’s open primary into a blanket primary. Both bills, if passed, would probably be held unconstitutional if either major party objected.
On February 20, the U.S. Supreme Court announced that it will hear New York State Board of Elections v Lopez Torres, 06-766. This is the first ballot access case the U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear since 1992. It concerns access to the primary ballot. The lower courts had invalidated New York’s petition requirements for major party members who try to get on the primary ballot for Delegate to Party Judicial Conventions. That requirement was a petition of 500 signatures, to be collected from party members in 37 days. Someone who wanted to be a judge, and who was therefore motivated to run a full slate of candidates for Delegate pledged to that person, would need between 4,500 and 12,000 valid signatures, depending on which Judicial District was involved. For Democrats, on the average, this works out to a petition requirement of 1.37% of the eligible signers; for Republicans it is 2.39%.
This is the first time the U.S. Supreme Court has ever taken a case involving the number of signatures needed to get on a primary ballot. Normally states don’t make primary ballot access especially difficult, although it is very difficult in New York, Massachusetts and Maine.
Also on February 20, the U.S. Supreme Court turned down 3 other election law cases: (1) Initiative & Referendum Institute v Herbert, over whether Utah could say that initiatives on the subject of taking wildlife need a two-thirds vote to pass; (2) Carl Romanelli’s pro se case on Pennsylvania’s procedures for checking signatures; (3) Protect Marriage v Orr, over Illinois’ random sample procedures for checking signatures on initiative petitions.
In March, Georgia will hold a special U.S. House election to fill the vacancy in the 10th district. The Libertarian Party has never run anyone for U.S. House in Georgia (except for write-in candidates), but the party is likely to run someone in this special election. Ballot access in Georgia special elections does not require a petition, but it does require a very high filing fee, of almost $4,900 (3% of the annual congressional salary). It is believed the Libertarian candidate will be Dr. James Sendelbach. Assuming he does run, he will be the first minor party candidate on the ballot for U.S. House in Georgia, with the party label next to his name on the ballot, since 1942. For more information about him, see here (although the information is somewhat out-of-date).
Two Florida legislators have introduced bills to alter the law, regarding the order of candidates’ names on general election ballots. Current law says the nominees of the party that won the last gubernatorial election should be listed first. Then come the nominees of any other party that has 5% of the number of registered voters. Then, the parties with less than 5% of the number of registered voters are listed in the order in which they filed their list of nominees. Finally, independent candidates are listed last.
Senator Nan H. Rich (D-Sunrise) and Representative Keith Fitzgerald (D-Sarasota) have introduced SB 1606 and HB 415. They would require rotation for the top spot. However, only parties with 5% of the registration would be eligible for the rotation. The bills would not change anything for the parties with less than 5% of the registration, nor would they help independent candidates.
H196, the bill in the Vermont House of Representatives to use Instant-Runoff Voting, has 49 co-sponsors. No action will be taken on it until the Secretary of State releases her study of IRV, which should be in a few weeks.
