Some of you may be interested in the following recent news article about Virginia's open primary law:
**************************************** "The court ruled unanimously that open primaries are constitutional when freely chosen by a political party because state law also provides the option of closing the nominating process by holding conventions or canvasses, known as "firehouse primaries." "But when an elected state official seeking another term uses the law to force his party to open the nomination to every voter through a primary, it violates the party's First Amendment's right of free association, the ruling said. "'You cannot force a political party to accept people it doesn't want any more than you can force people having a cocktail party on their porch to accept people who aren't invited,' said L. Steven Emmert, a Virginia Beach lawyer who specializes in appeals and is chairman of the Virginia State Bar Association's Appellate Practice Committee." **************************************** Read more: http://www.wavy.com/Global/story.asp?S=7154607&nav=menu45_2 The complete decision can be seen here: http://pacer.ca4.uscourts.gov/dailyopinions/opinion.pdf/062334.P.pdf The LP supports the right of all organizations to conduct their affairs in whatever manner they wish. Many Libertarians would also like to see the end of state government funding of internal party elections; asking why Libertarians should be forced to pay for the D and R primaries. As an aside, this change may have important connotrations for the LPVA. If it results in a legislative push to enact registration by party, there is a chance a party registration threshhold for full party ballot access may be written into it. If so, Libertarians will need to be ready to meet with legislators to make sure that the requirements are made attainable & reasonable for alternative political parties. -- Marc Montoni, Secretary Libertarian Party of Virginia ############################################################# Have an announcement you'd like to post? SCC members & many committee heads are all authorized to post; or you may send your announcements to the List Master: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>. ################################################## Unsubscribe: Send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with no subject and "Unsubscribe Announce" as the text. ############################################################# Libertarian Party of Virginia http://www.LPVA.com Phone: 703-715-6230
