Illinois State Senator James Meeks announced on May 19 that he will not qualify the “Honesty and Integrity Party” for the statewide ballot this year. Last week he had said he would. Meeks met with Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich earlier in the day, and it is believed Meeks won a commitment for changes in the Governor’s budget for education at that meeting.
Illinois State Senator James Meeks announced on May 19 that he will not qualify the “Honesty and Integrity Party” for the statewide ballot this year. Last week he had said he would. Meeks met with Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich earlier in the day, and it is believed Meeks won a commitment for changes in the Governor’s budget for education at that meeting.
On May 18, U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell introduced an amendment to the Immigration Reform bill, to require that states not let people vote at the polls without showing photo I.D. The bill is S.2611 and the amendment is SA4021. The amendment would only apply to elections for federal office, since the U.S. Constitution doesn’t let the federal government legislate such a requirement for state and local offices.
On May 17, the 10th circuit ruled that a state with the initiative process is free to provide that for certain subjects, initiatives cannot take effect unless they receive a “yes” vote of two-thirds of the vote. Initiative & Referendum Institute v Walker, 02-4105. In this particular case, the Utah legislature had provided that initiatives on the subject of “allowing, limiting, or taking of wildlife” needs 2/3rds voting support, not just majority support.
On May 8, the Working Families Party filed to be a “political body” in California. That means, whenever the state does a tally of how many registered voters there are in the state, it will tally the number of voters who have registered as Working Families Party members. If the party persuades approximately 80,000 people to take this step by January 2008, it will become a qualified party at that time.
