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Florida Legislative Committee Hears Testimony on Moving Primary from March to January

Posted on January 13, 2007 by Richard WingerJanuary 13, 2007

The regular session of the Florida legislature doesn’t start until March 6, 2007. Nevertheless, the House Ethics and Elections Committee held a hearing on January 10 on a proposed bill to move the Florida presidential primary from early March to January 29. The proposal is worded such that Florida’s presidential primary would be one week after New Hampshire’s primary. Currently, New Hampshire’s primary is set for January 22, 2008, although New Hampshire gives its Secretary of State authority to move the presidential primary, so New Hampshire’s date might change.

Illinois Legislator Will Introduce Bill to Ease Indp. Candidate Procedures

Posted on January 13, 2007 by Richard WingerJanuary 13, 2007

Illinois state representative Mike Boland will introduce a bill in February to move independent candidate petition deadlines from December of the year before the election, to June of election years. The bill will also lower the number of signatures for independent legislative candidates to 5% of the last vote cast (current law is 10%). This bill is in response to the 7th circuit’s decision in Lee v Keith. Thanks to Dan Johnson-Weinberger for this news.

Pennsylvania Hearing on Romanelli Lasts 5 Hours

Posted on January 13, 2007 by Richard WingerJanuary 13, 2007

On January 9, a Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court held a trial on whether the Green Party’s candidate for U.S. Senate in 2006 should be required to pay almost $89,668. This amount represents court costs, witness fees, and attorneys’ fees, for the process that removed Romanelli from the November 2006 ballot.

The head of the Pennsylvania Elections Department was on the stand, and admitted that Philadelphia County, among others, failed to record any write-ins for Romanelli or anyone else.

Romanelli’s attorney made arguments that the whole idea that a candidate can be forced to pay, violates the U.S. Supreme Court filing fee precedents, but the judge refused to hear the constitutional arguments. However, if an appeal is necessary, the constitutional arguments can be raised again. It was important that they were introduced at the trial level. One of the weaknesses of Ralph Nader’s parallel case on this same issue (which the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear on January 8, 2007) was that the constitutional issues hadn’t been raised in the courts below.

Reform Party Case Heard in 11th Circuit

Posted on January 13, 2007 by Richard WingerJanuary 13, 2007

On January 12, an attorney for the national Reform Party argued before the 11th circuit that the Federal Election Commission’s repayment demand against the Reform Party should not be considered valid. The case arose because the Reform Party was entitled to money from the federal government in 2000 to pay for its national convention expenses (the Reform Party was entitled to such money because it had polled over 5% of the presidential vote in 1996). Long after the convention was over, the FEC determined that some of the money had been spent improperly and that the party should repay $333,558.

The FEC sent its demand to the Reform Party’s Convention Committee, not the national committee. The party’s national committee argues that it was never formally notified of the FEC determination. There are other technical issues in the case as well. The 3 judges assigned to the case are R. Lanier Anderson (a Carter appointee), Stanley Marcus (Clinton), and Cecilia Altonaga (Bush Jr.). Questioning was so active that the hearing went on longer than the scheduled time. It is difficult to predict the outcome, but one plausible outcome might be that the fine stands, but that the lower court’s injunction might be modified. That injunction forbids the national party from spending any money until the FEC is repaid. The Reform Party pointed out that this makes it impossible for the party to spend any money soliciting contributions to raise money to repay the FEC.

If the Reform Party loses in the 11th circuit, it intends to ask for U.S. Supreme Court review.

More Good Ballot Access Bills Coming

Posted on January 13, 2007 by Richard WingerJanuary 13, 2007

Tennessee Libertarians are making a coordinated effort to find legislators willing to introduce a bill on ballot access for parties, and hope to have found one by the end of January.

In South Carolina, retired history professor J. David Gillespie is hoping to find a sponsor to repeal the state’s unreasonable ban on write-in candidates for president. South Carolina is the only state that allows write-ins generally (in November elections), yet bans write-ins for president. The state permitted them until 1982.