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District 11 Senate Run

PostPosted:Wed Mar 28, 2018 12:24 pm
by rosco87
Does anyone know how to get your name on the ballot and or how much it will cost to get on the ballot?

Re: District 11 Senate Run

PostPosted:Wed Mar 28, 2018 3:00 pm
by California_Exile
Unfortunately the process is designed to be pretty obscure and full of traps for the unwary, in part so that only people with the backing of one or the other major party have a real shot.

Here is the official primer from the New Castle County Division of Elections, which is where you would register as a candidate for a senate seat from New Castle County. https://electionsncc.delaware.gov/candi ... info.shtml

In brief:

If you want to run as a Democrat or as a Republican, you file a declaration with the Division, but you have to pay a filing fee that is set by the county committee of the party (and gets paid to the party). The party committees don't have to set the amount until late June, a couple weeks before the filing deadline in July. The last couple election cycles, both major parties have set the fee right near the statutory cap, which is 1% of the salary for the entire term of office. I would figure the filing fee for senate this year is going to be about $1800. (It was $1781 for both parties in 2016.) For a representative seat, about half that.

If you want to run on a minor party ticket, you have to get that party to nominate you at its convention. The deadline for that is in August.

If you want to run as an unaffiliated candidate, you have to collect signatures from voters in the district to get on the ballot. No filing fee, but a big organizational obstacle. Those signatures would need to be collected and filed by July.

You can also run as a declared write-in. For that, you have to file a form with the division by September. Your name won't appear on the ballot, but people can write you in and they will count the votes written in for you. (They don't bother tallying write-in votes for anyone who doesn't file the form; otherwise they'd have to report that Bryan Townsend got a couple thousand votes and Genghis Khan got one vote -- from me.)

Re: District 11 Senate Run

PostPosted:Wed Mar 28, 2018 5:00 pm
by NCC
I once wanted to run against Viola, a Dem. I made an appointment with the Republican Party ere in DE and they were so glad they were willing to help with everything and pay the fees. Give that a shot.

FWIW, my wife never said anything until I said I was not going to do it. Then she said she was very happy I had decided against it.

But if you're running against Townsend, you got my vote!!

Re: District 11 Senate Run

PostPosted:Wed Mar 28, 2018 6:41 pm
by California_Exile
NCC wrote:But if you're running against Townsend, you got my vote!!
Ditto. Unfortunately the district is heavily D (57% D, 18% R, 25% other).

This was really the advantage of the "old days" when we still had some Dems who were sane about guns, you could find people to primary lunatics like Townsend. 15-20 years ago they weren't so rare on the ground in Delaware. I'm so old I can remember when Rep. Viola had an A- rating from NRA. No more.

Re: District 11 Senate Run

PostPosted:Wed Mar 28, 2018 6:52 pm
by California_Exile
California_Exile wrote:If you want to run as an unaffiliated candidate, you have to collect signatures from voters in the district to get on the ballot. No filing fee, but a big organizational obstacle. Those signatures would need to be collected and filed by July.
Actually, now that I look at the registration totals, https://elections.delaware.gov/reports/ ... 0301.shtml, you would need signatures from 1% of the registered voters in the district to get on the ballot, but that's only 305 people (30,487 registered voters). Still a pain, but doable if you (or your staff) have organizational skills. You'd need to make sure before May that your voter registration is updated to reflect that you're an independent.

I'd sign your petition if you wanted to go that route, I bet NCC would too!

Re: District 11 Senate Run

PostPosted:Wed Apr 04, 2018 2:12 pm
by brich2929
I wish I could vote for you if you're challenging Townsend. Unfortunately I'm not in that district.


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Re: District 11 Senate Run

PostPosted:Wed Apr 04, 2018 5:26 pm
by NCC
brich2929 wrote:I wish I could vote for you if you're challenging Townsend. Unfortunately I'm not in that district.
Now that right there is hate speaking brother. I get it.

Re: District 11 Senate Run

PostPosted:Fri Apr 20, 2018 1:53 pm
by NCC
The Rick Jensen Radio Show, WDEL, every Friday afternoon has a Weasel (and Hero) of the Week bit. Today I nominated Brian Townsend (for the former, NOT the latter!).

I think I will do that every Friday going forward. There is not lack of things he does or says to not nominate him.

Just throwing this out there. The winner is the Weasel that gets the most votes from the audience. Can call in, email, or test nominations.

Re: District 11 Senate Run

PostPosted:Tue Jun 05, 2018 5:37 pm
by NCC
Anyone running against Townsend this year? I want to help.

Re: District 11 Senate Run

PostPosted:Wed Jun 06, 2018 9:59 pm
by dean
California_Exile wrote:
NCC wrote:But if you're running against Townsend, you got my vote!!
Ditto. Unfortunately the district is heavily D (57% D, 18% R, 25% other).

Couldn't they just run as D?