On February 6, New York held a special election for State Senate, 7th district, to fill a vacancy. With all the precincts reporting, Democrat Craig Johnson has defeated Republican Maureen O’Connell. Thanks to the commenter below. Johnson got 24,915 votes under the Democratic label and 1,537 on the Working Families label. O’Connell got 18,988 Republican votes, 2,252 Conservative Party votes, and 1,689 Independence Party votes.
On February 6, Oregon Senator Ben Westlund introduced SB 468. It repeals the law passed in 2005 that makes it illegal for primary voters to sign an independent candidate’s petition.
Rep. William Black introduced HB 632 on February 6. It would improve ballot access for independent candidates. It is similar to Black’s HB 158, which improves ballot access for new and previously unqualified political parties. Both bills set the petition requirement so that it equals the number of signatures needed for major party members seeking a place on a primary ballot. Since the number of signatures for a member of a major party varies according to which major party it is, the bills choose the number of signatures that matches the larger primary requirement. In other words, if in the 8th US House district, a Republican needs 632 signatures to get on the Republican primary ballot, and a Democrat needs 488 signatures to get on the Democratic primary ballot, a minor party or independent candidate would also need 632 signatures.
HB 632 also improves the independent candidate deadline, setting it in June of election years, which matches the existing law for minor party petition deadlines. The existing law for independent candidates requires the petitions to be turned in in December of the year before the election, but that was held unconstitutional last year, so that law needs to be revised.
On February 6, the Washington House Government Committee heard HB 1534, which revises Washington state procedures for minor party and independent candidates. The bill was written by the Secretary of State’s office. Ruth Bennett of the Libertarian Party, and Linde Knighton of the Progressive Party, testified that the bill is too onerous. The chairman of the committee, Samuel W. Hunt (D-Olympia), then said that he agrees the bill is too harsh on minor parties, and he suggested that the bill be re-written to take into account the concerns of the minor parties. That work will proceed over the next few weeks.
On Feb. 5, Congressman Rush Holt (D-N.J.) again introduced a bill to require that, in federal elections, all vote-counting technology be equipped with a paper record of that vote, which the voter could see before leaving the voting location. It is HR 811 and is likely to pass the House this year.
