Oregon Primary Turnout is Only 38%

Posted on by May 16, 2006
3

On May 16, Oregon held primary elections for the Democratic and Republican Parties (other qualified parties nominate by convention). Turnout was low (38% of the registered voters), which is good news for State Senator Ben Westlund, who is trying to collect signatures to get on the ballot as an independent for Governor. Last year Oregon made it illegal for people to both vote in the primary and sign for an independent candidate.

Oregon usually has high turnouts in primaries. In the May 2002 primary, 686,859 votes were cast for Governor. This year, with only 10 precincts still to be counted, there are only 569,552 votes for governor, even though Oregon has gained in population since 2002.

Pennsylvania State Senate Leadership Ousted

Posted on by May 16, 2006
2

Pennsylvania held primaries on May 16. The two top Republican leaders of the State Senate, Senators Brightbill and Jubelirer (majority leader and president pro tempore) both were defeated for re-election. The Republican leadership of the Pennsylvania State Senate have been stalwart foes of ballot access reform. In 1997, Republican leaders in the Pennsylvania State Senate quadrupled the number of signatures needed for minor parties and independents, although that bill was vetoed. More recently, the Pennsylvania House has held hearings on ballot access reform, but the Senate has never shown any interest in improving the ballot access laws.

Utah Mining Company Drops Defamation Lawsuit Against Socialist Workers Party

Posted on by May 16, 2006
Reply

On May 13, the Salt Lake City Tribune newspaper reported that the C. W. Mining Company had settled its defamation lawsuit against the United Mine Workers Union of America and the Socialist Workers Party newspaper, The Militant. The Militant had run 54 articles over the past three years about a labor dispute in a Utah coal mine. The owners of the coal mine, and the company union, had filed a federal defamation lawsuit. On May 1, U.S. District Court Judge Dee Benson had refused to release The Militant from the lawsuit, but since then, the case has been dropped, and the United Mine Workers Association will not try to organize that mine. IAUWU v UMWA, 2:04-cv-901.

Strayhorn Loses Ballot Access Case

Posted on by May 16, 2006
11

On May 10, U.S. District Court Judge Lee Yeakel ruled against Texas independent gubernatorial candidate Carole Strayhorn. Yeakel said nothing in the U.S. Constitution requires the state to use random sampling, instead of checking all the signatures. Strayhorn v Williams, A-06-CA-205. Strayhorn had sued because the Secretary of State had initially said the job of checking all her signatures might take him until July or August. Strayhorn had argued that her campaign would be hurt if she weren’t officially on the ballot until then.

After the decision came out, Strayhorn claimed a moral victory, because now the Secretary of State says, even without random sampling, he will finish verifying the signatures in 4 or 5 weeks.

The court decision didn’t address the separate issue of whether it is constitutional for the state to forbid turning in additional signatures, after the first batch has been turned in.