On July 5, James Stockdale died at the age of 81. He had been Ross Perot’s running mate in 1992. He was the only individual running for vice-president who ever participated in a debate with the major party nominees for vice-president.
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On July 1, Louisiana’s Governor signed SB 53, which moves the state’s congressional elections to late September. Only if no one gets 50% will a run-off be held, and such run-offs would be in November. Because the US Supreme Court ruled in 1997 that federal law forbids such timing (which Louisiana used between 1978 and 1996), it is likely that the new law will not go into effect. The state is under a federal court order to obey the 1997 U.S. Supreme Court ruling, which was called Foster v Love.
On June 30, the Oregon House of Representatives passed HB 3021 by a vote of 49-2. It would let two parties jointly nominate the same candidate. A candidate who was the nominee of two different parties would be listed once on the November ballot, with the names of both parties adjacent to his or her name. For example, John Doe, Libertarian/Democrat. The bill exists because of lobbying by the Libertarian Party.
On June 27, the US Court of Appeals, 2nd circuit, refused to disturb the Independence Party’s victory last year, on the issue of whether the party had the right to let independent voters vote in its primary. One county unit of the Independence Party (Richmond County, which is Staten Island) had passed a resolution saying independents could vote in its primary for legislature. That 2004 primary was the first primary in New York state history in which independent voters could vote. The State Board of Elections had tried to persuade the 2nd circuit that the US District Court judge should not have issued the injunction that allowed independents to vote in the party’s primary. But on June 27, the 2nd circuit said the issue was moot. The state’s argument had been that only the full county committee, not just the county executive committee, had the right to make the rules change. The US District Court had said the executive committee had the power to make the rules change.
On May 12, the Governor of Indiana signed SB 467, which ends a subsidy to political parties that polled more than 10% of the vote in the last Secretary of State’s election. The subsidy consisted of most of the state revenues from the sale of personalized auto license plates. The Libertarian Party had sued against this subsidy back in 1984, but the courts had upheld it. However, it is now gone.