Rumors are circulating that U.S. Senator Chuck Hagel of Nebraska may say something soon to show he desires the presidential nomination of Unity08.
Ballot Access News editor is on vacation in Mexico March 10-21 but blog items will still be posted during that period, in all probability.
On November 9, the New Mexico State House of Representatives passed HB 1155. Among other things, it moves the petition deadline for minor party nominees from mid-July to early June. This is the same type of petition which is being challenged in federal court in the case filed by the Libertarian Party last year. The party argues that since one petition is needed to qualify the party itself, once the party has nominated its candidates by convention, there is no logical reason to require each nominee to then submit a petition. It is typical of the New Mexico legislature that it would pass a bill, making its procedures even more difficult to defend, while a court case is pending on that same type of restriction.
On March 7, a group of taxpayers and voters in the city of Union, Ohio, asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear their appeal. The issue is whether a local government can spend public funds campaigning against an initiative. The 6th circuit had ruled on September 8, 2006, that government can spend public funds to campaign against an initiative. The case is Kidwell v City of Union. No case number has been assigned yet. Thanks to Ed Still for this news. The case has great implications for laws that provide public funding for candidates on a discriminatory basis.
On March 8, the Colorado House State, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee killed SB 46, the National Popular Vote Plan that had earlier passed the State Senate. Opponents brought in two law professors who testified against the plan. Supporters have their own law professors who support the plan, but had not realized that they might be needed. The vote was 10-1.
There are at least two election law cases filed in 2002 by minor parties or independent candidates that are still pending. One is the Alabama case filed by an independent candidate against Alabama’s 3% (of the last vote cast) petition. That has a hearing in the 11th circuit in Atlanta on March 20.
The other is the Arizona Libertarian Party’s case against a state law that forces the party to let independent voters vote in its primary. That case is still in U.S. District Court. Both sides have been waiting for over a year for the Judge to issue his opinion.
