On March 1, the 11th circuit (headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia) ruled that the Reform Party’s lawsuit to avoid repaying $333,558 to the Federal Election Commission cannot possibly succeed, because only the federal courts in the District of Columbia can entertain such a lawsuit. The case is FEC v Reform Party of the US, 05-17083. Thanks to Ed Still for this news.
It has been three days since the Oklahoma State Court of Appeals upheld the state’s ballot access laws for new and previously unqualified parties, and the daily newspapers in Oklahoma still have not mentioned the decision. One would have thought it was newsworthy, since it did discuss the point that Oklahoma was the only state in November 2004 in which people couldn’t vote for president unless they were willing to vote for either President Bush or Senator Kerry.
It has been three days since the Oklahoma State Court of Appeals upheld the state’s ballot access laws for new and previously unqualified parties, and the daily newspapers in Oklahoma still have not mentioned the decision. One would have thought it was newsworthy, since it did discuss the point that Oklahoma was the only state in November 2004 in which people couldn’t vote for president unless they were willing to vote for either President Bush or Senator Kerry.
On February 27, the Idaho House State Affairs Committee held a hearing on H185, the bill to switch Idaho from an open primary state, to a closed primary state. The bill would institute registration by party. Parties would be free to choose for themselves whether to invite independents to vote in their primaries.
The committee hasn’t made a decison about the bill. Although the Republican Party legislative leadership supports the bill, the Secretary of State, Ben Ysursa, fiercely attacked it. The bill is sparse and omits many details, and would result in additional costs for election administration. The bill will probably be amended to counter some of the criticisms.
Current California law says that anyone who is eligible to register to vote may circulate a candidate or an initiative petition. SB 408 would say that individuals who are not registered to vote may not circulate a petition unless they had been eligible to register to vote at the time of the last election. It was introduced on February 21 by Senator Jenny Oropeza (D-Carson).
