On June 22 the national Democratic Party’s Rules Committee voted to authorize one or two presidential primaries or caucuses before the New Hampshire presidential primary. The Committee will decide on July 22 or July 23 which state or states will be allowed to go earlier. The July meeting will also set dates for these states.
On June 27, the Oregon Secretary of State announced that the Working Families Party is now ballot-qualified. The party needed 18,381 valid signatures, and achieved this goal.
The Reform Party went off the ballot in California in November 2002. When a party is off the ballot in California, but wishes to re-qualify, it must notify the Secretary of State to keep track of how many registrations it has. Once it gets a number of registrations equal to 1% of the last gubernatorial vote, it is back on the ballot. The Reform Party has just re-filed its request that the state keep track of its registrations. The next tally won’t be until September 2006. The Reform Party probably has about 35,000 registrants now, and it will probably need about 90,000 to get back on. The exact number won’t be known until the November 2006 election is held; the requirement is 1% of the number of people who vote in that election. The party would have until January 2008 to meet the requirement.
The Reform Party went off the ballot in California in November 2002. When a party is off the ballot in California, but wishes to re-qualify, it must notify the Secretary of State to keep track of how many registrations it has. Once it gets a number of registrations equal to 1% of the last gubernatorial vote, it is back on the ballot. The Reform Party has just re-filed its request that the state keep track of its registrations. The next tally won’t be until September 2006. The Reform Party probably has about 35,000 registrants now, and it will probably need about 90,000 to get back on. The exact number won’t be known until the November 2006 election is held; the requirement is 1% of the number of people who vote in that election. The party would have until January 2008 to meet the requirement.
On June 28, the California State Senate Elections Committee passed AB 2948 by a vote of 3-1. It had already passed the Assembly. It seems likely that the California legislature will be the first legislature to pass the “National Popular Vote Plan”, which calls for a compact of states, each pledging to choose presidential electors pledged to vote for the presidential candidate who got the most votes in the nation. The compact would not go into effect until states containing a majority of electoral votes had joined.
