Pennsylvania’s current deadline for minor party and independent candidate petitions is August 1. HB 544 would move this to the first Tuesday in July. The bill is backed by the state Elections Department, and passed the House in December 2005. It is currently pending in the State Senate committee that handles election law bills.
On June 14, Missouri’s Governor signed SB 1014, which eliminates the straight-ticket device on general election ballots. Straight-ticket devices definitely injure independent candidates, and probably injure minor parties. Fourteen other states still have them.
The Louisiana legislature’s last day will be Monday, June 19. Pending are two important election law bills. SB 18 (which has passed the Senate and the House Committees) would convert the congressional elections to closed primaries. HB 927 (which has passed all committees in the House) would implement the National Popular Vote plan for presidential elections.
The Workers World Party and its newspaper, Workers World, was sued for defamation a few months ago. The party’s newspaper had run an article on February 23, 2006, titled “WCI Steel Bankruptcy Robs Workers’ Pensions”. The article explained that Renco owned a steel plant in Warren, Ohio, that Renco had filed for bankruptcy, and that its planned reorganization plan threatened pensions for steel workers. The lawsuit claims that the use of the verb “rob” constitutes defamation. The case is Renco Group v Workers World Party, New York Supreme Court, Manhatten, 102875-06.
Workers World is the second Marxist party to be sued for defamation for reporting on disputes between labor and management. The Socialist Workers Party newspaper, The Militant, had been sued for defamation by the owners of a coal mine in 2004, but that case was recently dropped.
Pennsylvania Representative Paul Clymer expects to introduce a bill on June 14, which would retain the existing number of signatures needed for minor party and independent candidates, but cap the statewide total at 45,000. The aim is to have the bill pass and take effect immediately. This would have no effect in most election years, but this year would be an improvement, since the current requirement this year is unusually high (66,827).
The state’s briefs are due on June 15 in the pending ballot access case in the 3rd circuit, Rogers v Cortes.
