Ohio State Senator Charlie Wilson said on February 24 that he will be a write-in candidate in the May 2 Ohio Democratic primary for U.S. House, 6th district. He has two opponents for the nomination whose names will be on the ballot, but they have never been elected to any office and have little or no support from Ohio Democratic Party leaders. Wilson’s write-in campaign has been endorsed by the current congressman in that district, Ted Strickland, who is leaving congress to run for Governor.

Ohio does not have a tradition of write-in winners. The state banned write-ins between 1947 and 1968. A 3-judge federal court struck down the state’s ban on write-ins in 1968, in lawsuits filed by the Socialist Labor Party and the George Wallace campaign. Wilson has to be a write-in candidate because he failed to file 50 valid signatures to be on the ballot.

On February 22, the 9th circuit declined to strike down Oregon’s law, banning the practice of paying initiative circulators per signature. The court said “We do not hold that the law is facially constitutional. Rather, we hold that the district court did not clearly err in determining plaintiffs failed to establish that the law imposes a severe burden.” Evidence in the case presented by the plaintiffs was feeble, whereas the state did a better job of presenting evidence in support of the law. Prete v Bradbury, 04-35285. A similar law had been upheld in North Dakota, but similar laws in Idaho, Maine, Mississippi and Washington had been struck down in U.S. District Courts.

Ever since the 1910’s decade, qualified political parties in California have chosen county party officers in their own primaries. However, in 2003, the legislature amended the law to provide that parties may abolish these elections if they wish. The Libertarian Party has become the first party to do so. The 2003 law change did not take effect until after the 2004 primary, so this year is the first year any party could make this choice. Fewer than half the states let parties choose their officers in a publicly-funded primary.