On August 2, the Oregon Secretary of State said that the initiative to change Oregon’s system to the “top-two” method did not have enough valid signatures. Therefore, it will not appear on the November 2006 ballot. The proposal would have required all candidates for all partisan office (except president) to run on a single primary ballot in May. Then, in November, only the two highest vote-getters would have been able to be on the ballot. Thanks to Steve Rankin for this news.
On August 1, U.S. District Court Judge Ricardo Martinez, a Bush Jr. appointee, enjoined a new Washington state law concerning voter registration. The Washington law prevents any new voter registration form from being processed, if the information on the form does not match the Social Security Administration’s database or the state drivers license database. Washington Ass’n of Churches v Reed, C06-00726, Seattle.
On August 2, the state chair of the Pennsylvania Democratic Party said that the Democrats will challenge the Green statewide petition. This is only the second time in the last 60 years that any minor party or statewide petition has been challenged in Pennsylvania; the first time was in 2004, when Democrats challenged Nader’s independent petition.
A U.S. District Court in Arkansas will hear the Green Party’s ballot access lawsuit on August 17-18. Green Party of Arkansas v Daniels, 4:06cv-758. The issue is the number of signatures needed for a new party.
On August 1, a neutral poll was published for Maine. In the gubernatorial race, the results are: Democrat 42%, Republican 24%, Green 3%, independent state legislator Barbara Merrill 3%, three other independents combined, under 1%; undecided 27%.
In the U.S. Senate race, the results are: Republican 68%, Democrat 10%, independent Bill Slavick 4%, undecided 18%. Republican incumbent Olympia Snowe is very popular and won her last race in 2000 with 69%.
