New election laws that could have Republicans disenfranchised by Massachusetts

Richard Winger, election expert at Ballot Access News, has an interesting piece on new election laws in Massachusetts that could hurt Republican chances.  Will the legislature act?

“Republicans who wish to get on the Republican primary ballot for the Massachusetts U.S. Senate special election must obtain 10,000 valid signatures by February 27. According to this story, there is some concern that no Republican will be able to fulfill the task. Of course, the legislature is sitting, and is capable of passing ballot access reform, and making the bill effective immediately. UPDATE: here is an article about the coming blizzard in New England that will make petitioning even more difficult…

…It is conceivable that any candidate running in the primary might file a lawsuit to reduce the number of signatures. The decision of the U.S. District Court in Illinois dated February 1, 2013, called Jones v McGuffage, said that it is unconstitutional to impose the same number of signatures in a special election (with limited time to collect the signatures) than in a regularly-scheduled election. If this were a regularly-scheduled election, primary candidates could obtain their signatures over a three-month period. Thanks to Thomas MacMillan for the link to the news story.”

The Boston Herald article had the following information on the storm’s effect:

Some panicked Republicans are fretting that they may not even get a candidate on the ballot for the special Senate election as the deadline for 10,000 signatures approaches, with the weekend’s blizzard threatening to cut into vital collection time. The failure to make the the signature deadline could force Republicans to launch a sticker campaign, which would require 10,000 voters to write in or put a sticker with the candidate’s name on the primary ballot on April 30.