West Virginia’s Democratic Gov. Joe Manchin will have to appoint a successor to replace Sen. Robert Byrd, who died early this morning at the age of 92 — and with ambiguous state rules making it unclear exactly what the replacement process will entail, his next step is anyone’s guess.
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Parties object to being abbreviated on Oregon ballot
Oregon’s eight recognized political parties are about to get downsized on the ballot this year – and they are not happy about it. The Oregon secretary of state’s office, saying that a new fusion-voting law is putting a squeeze in space on the ballot, plans to have each party listed next to a candidate’s name by a three-letter abbreviation. Read More
California Voters Pass Top-Two, Restrict Choice
Proposition 14, the top-two ballot measure, has been passed in California with 53.8% “Yes”. This changes their primary election into an open general and thus makes the general election effectively a run-off between the top two primary candidates, regardless of their party. Third party candidates will be completely shut out by Republicans and Democrats and write-in votes will no longer be counted. Read More
Group complains about electronic voting machines
A local leader of the conservative Constitution Party asked Raleigh County Commission members Tuesday to stop using the Election Systems & Software (iVotronic touch-screen voting machines currently used in West Virginia.
The machines are approved by Secretary of State Natalie Tennant, and her office recently paid around $500,000 for the Raleigh machines. The county anted up another $400,000.
Gene Stalnaker presented Commission president John Humphrey and Commissioner John Aliff with the Ohio Project EVEREST voting study.
Under state law, county commissions can choose not to use the machines, said Gene Stalnaker, Constitution Party treasurer.
“This report calls for the State of Ohio to do away with the machines six months before their election,” Stalnaker said. “There’s other states that use the same machines that also have done that.
“So I’m just asking you as commissioners to follow (state code) and call a meeting to do away with the machines.”
Humphrey said he’d received no complaints about the performance of the machines and that no other voters had expressed concerns.
“As of now, we have no reason to doubt these machines,” he said. Read More
Constitution Party of West Virginia wins free speech victory
The Rutherford Institute Wins Court Victory for West Virginia Constitution Party’s Right to Circulate Petitions at a State Park
ELKINS, W.Va. —Judge John Preston Bailey of the Northern District of West Virginia has ruled that a First Amendment lawsuit dealing with the right of a political group to circulate petitions and collect signatures at a state park can move forward. Officials with the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources (DNR), which manages and controls the park, had asked the court to dismiss the lawsuit. Filed in April 2008 by Rutherford Institute attorneys on behalf of members of the Constitution Party of West Virginia, the lawsuit poses a constitutional challenge to a ban on politics in West Virginia state parks.
“Americans have a First Amendment right to the freedom of political expression,” stated John W. Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute. “We cannot allow the government to silence. We have a right to be heard.” Read More
Constitution Party wins constitutional fight
ELKINS – In a constitutional triumph for the Constitution Party, U.S. District Judge John Bailey ruled that citizens can circulate petitions on West Virginia public lands.
On June 3, he held that West Virginia legislators violated First Amendment rights when they banned soliciting in state parks and other recreational areas.
He did not disturb a ban on hawking, peddling or carrying on business in parks.
His ruling will allow the Constitution Party of West Virginia to circulate petitions at National Hunting and Fishing Days in Stonewall Jackson Lake State Park.
Park rangers chased party leaders away from the event in 2007.
The party sued Division of Natural Resources chief Frank Jezioro, who responded that they should have applied for a permit like other exhibitors at the event.
Bailey disagreed, ruling that no one needs a permit to solicit in any park on any day.
He found that the ban acted as prior restraint on expression in a public forum.
“Any prior restraint on expression in a public forum is subject to strict scrutiny,” he wrote.
He wrote that the ban “fails this strict scrutiny test as it is not narrowly tailored to serve a significant government interest.”
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Read the full article at the West Virginia Record.
Constitution Party Partisan Win
On November 2, 2004, Robert Miller, an activist in the Constitution Party, was elected County Surveyor of Grant County, West Virginia. He received ten write-in votes. No one else was running for the post.
From www.ballot-access.org.
WV Ballot Access Victory
On November 3, U.S. District Court Judge Joseph Goodwin, a Clinton appointee, ruled that West Virginia may not charge a filing fee for declared write-in candidates. Phillips v Hechler, civ 6:00-894. The ruling upset a law that had been passed in 1993. The basis for the ruling is that the purpose of a filing fee is to keep a ballot from being crowded with too many names. That rationale has no application for write-in candidates.
The case was filed by Howard Phillips (Constitution Party presidential candidate), who was unable to qualify for the ballot, and who therefore depended on write-in votes in West Virginia. If the law had not been overturned, he would have had to pay $4,000 just to have his write-ins tallied (the fee is 1% of the annual salary of the office). The state has not yet said if it will appeal.
(From Ballot Access News.)