Richard Winger will be out of the U.S. between January 8-17, so this site is likely to be dormant for those days.
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The Pennsylvania House State Government Committee will hold an informal hearing on January 11, Wednesday, to get a consensus on a bill improving ballot access.
Texas requires new political parties to notify the state on January 2 of an election year, if they plan to petition that year. This year, the Green, Constitution and Reform Parties all filed the notice. Petitioning itself would be carried on in March, April and May.
The New Mexico Secretary of State, Rebecca Vigil-Giron, a Democrat, will ask the legislature to move the minor party nominee petition deadline from mid-July to early June, when the New Mexico legislature convenes on January 17. In 2005, she persuaded the legislature to move independent candidate petition deadlines from September to June. She had meant to move both deadlines, but due to a drafting error, only the independent petition was moved last year.
New Mexico is the only state that even requires a qualified party to submit petitions for each of its nominees. The Libertarian Party is likely to sue to overturn the “double petition” requirement later this year. A similar lawsuit in Maryland won in 2003.
Starting January 6, Green Party congressional candidate Terry Baum is performing a one-woman stage play about the comedy of errors involved in trying to get herself on the ballot in 2004. See www.oregonstageworks.org. The performance is in Ashland, Oregon. Later it will be performed in San Francisco.