San Francisco Supervisors Will Vote on February 14 Whether to Put two Voting Systems Questions on Ballot

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The San Francisco Board of Supervisors will decide, either on February 7 or February 14, whether to place a ballot measure on the ballot, or perhaps two ballot measures on the ballot, concerning Instant Runoff Voting. One measure that may be put on the ballot is to eliminate IRV, and return to the system of two rounds of elections for city office. The other idea that may be placed on the ballot is to expand IRV so that each voter may indicate more choices for any one office other than just First, Second and Third Choice.

If the Board approves putting either of these measures on the ballot, or both of them, the Board will also decide whether to put them on the June ballot or the November ballot. The date of the February hearing should be clearer on February 3. UPDATE: the Supervisors cannot act to put the measures on the ballot until their February 14 meeting. But they could table either or both measures on February 7. Thanks to Steve Hill for this news.

All Challenges to President’s Appearance on Illinois Democratic Presidential Primary are Defeated or Withdrawn

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On February 2, all challenges to the validity of President Obama’s petition for the Illinois Democratic Party presidential primary were defeated or withdrawn. Two challenges had said President Obama does not meet the constitutional qualifications to be President, but the hearing officer accepted the President’s birth certificate and did not even comment about the allegation that a “natural-born citizen” can only be someone whose parents were U.S. citizens.

The third challenge claimed that Obama’s petition did not have 3,000 valid signatures, but it was withdrawn before the merits were reached.

Pennsylvania Newspaper Column Describes Disorder Caused by Invalidation of State Legislative District Boundaries

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The Pottstown, Pennsylvania newspaper, the Mercury, has this op-ed about the messy consequencees for Pennsylvania state legislative candidates, due to the invalidation of the state’s new legislative district boundaries. The petitioning period for candidates seeking a place on the primary ballot is only three weeks long, and has already started.

The op-ed even suggests that the true motive of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court for invalidating the redistricting plan is that the Court is miffed at the legislature for not raising judicial pay. Thanks to Bill Van Allen for the link.

Virginia Bill Advances, Would Postpone Primary from June 12 to August 7

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On January 31, a subcommittee of the Virginia House Privileges and Elections Committee passed HB 736, to postpone the non-presidential 2012 primary from June 12 to August 7. The bill has an urgency clause. The bill also provides that it won’t take effect if the districts are settled by March 20.

Virginia legislators are worried about the effect on major party candidates if the boundaries of the U.S. House districts are not known soon. So far there is no bill to address the problem that unqualified parties and independent candidates can’t circulate presidential petitions until the U.S. House districts are known. This is because presidential petitions for the general election must carry the names of an elector living in each U.S. House district. Minor parties and independent presidential candidates can’t choose their presidential elector candidates until the boundaries of the districts are known.

Columbia Missourian Story on Missouri Libertarian Presidential Primary

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The Columbia Missourian has this story about the Libertarian presidential primary in Missouri, which is being held on February 7. Anyone could have got on that ballot by paying a filing fee of $1,000, but the only person who did so is James Ogle of California, so the article is about him. The article doesn’t explore the question of who else is seeking the party’s nomination at its national convention in May in Las Vegas, or why no one else filed for the primary.

The Columbia Missourian is published daily, both on paper and electronically. It was founded in 1908 as the nation’s first newspaper published by a School of Journalism, and also in 1992 became one of the first periodicals to put content on the web.

The link works, but it takes about 30 seconds to load after one clicks on it.