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Georgia Lobbying Gathers Steam

Posted on October 6, 2005 by adminOctober 6, 2005

The bill in the Georgia legislature to reduce the number of signatures needed for district office (US House, state legislature) and county office, from 5% of the registered voters, to 2% of the last vote cast, is gaining. There are now 10 members of the House who say they will co-sponsor it next year, when the legislature reconvenes. The bill is HB 527.

The Georgia petition requirement for US House, which has existed since 1943, is easily the most onerous ballot access law in the nation, since no party has been able to comply with it, in the 62 years it has existed. It is a scandal that the federal judges in Georgia have never been willing to invalidate it.

Calif. Special Election

Posted on October 5, 2005 by adminOctober 5, 2005

On October 5, California held a special election for US House, 48th district. Since no one got 50%, there will be a run-off (featuring the top vote-getter from each of 5 parties) on December 6.

The unofficial October 5 results are: the 9 Republicans, together, polled 67.3% of all the votes cast. The 4 Democrats together polled 16.6% of the vote. The Constitution Party nominee, Jim Gilchrist, polled 16.1% (in California, the Constitution Party is called the American Independent Party). The Green nominee polled .9% and the Libertarian nominee polled .8%.

Calif. Dem. Party Helps Alternative Voting Methods

Posted on October 3, 2005 by adminOctober 3, 2005

On October 1, the California Democratic Party passed a resolution in support of letting general law cities and counties use Instant-Runoff Voting or Ranked Choice Voting. The resolution will help to pass SB 596 next year, a bill to give all cities and counties the freedom to experiment.

Some Post Office Petitioning Now OK

Posted on October 3, 2005 by adminOctober 3, 2005

The Postal Service did not ask for a rehearing of the DC Circuit’s August 9, 2005 decision on postal petitioning. The time for requesting a rehearing has now expired. Therefore, it is now legal for circulators to use perimeter post office sidewalks (but not yet interior sidewalks). However, since not all postal employees may be aware of this, it would be worthwhile for anyone to know that the decision is called Initiative & Referendum Institute v US Postal Service, case no. 04-5045, and that the decision came down Aug. 9, 2005. For those who are ultra-cautious, it would be good to have a copy of that decision. The attorney for the Initiative & Referendum Institute can probably e-mail a copy of the decision to those who really need it. He is David Klein, dfklein@swidlaw.com. Let him know of any experience in which a postal employee bars petitioning in a perimeter sidewalk (perimeter sidewalk is one that is parallel to a public street, not a sidewalk leading from a post office itself to the post office parking lot).

U.S. Supreme Court Takes Another Campaign Finance Case

Posted on September 27, 2005 by adminSeptember 27, 2005

On September 27, the U.S. Supreme Court announced it will hear Vermont Republican State Committee v Sorrell, on whether a state can limit the amount of money any particular candidate spends (even when there is no public funding in place). The 2nd circuit had upheld Vermont limits on expenditures, even though in 1976 the U.S. Supreme Court had ruled in Buckley v Valeo that expenditure limits violate the free speech part of the 1st amendment.