Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted, a Republican, is interviewed in the Lancaster, Ohio Eagle-Gazette. See this story. He says this year’s legislative session has acted in a way that is making election administration in Ohio very difficult. This is an implicit criticism of Husted’s own party, because Republicans have majorities in both houses of the legislature and hold the Governorship.
California Governor Jerry Brown’s web page has this area for commenting on a bill that he is about to either sign or veto. Near the top is a section “Please choose your subject” and there are many generic issues listed. Underneath the alphabetical list of generic subjects is a list of bills that are on his desk, to be either signed or vetoed. First are listed the Assembly bills in numerical order, and then the Senate bills, also in numerical order.
Readers of this blog may wish to use this feature to ask him to veto SB 205, which makes it illegal for a voter registration worker to be paid on a per-signature basis. Under California’s new “top-two” law, the only way parties may keep their qualified status is to boost their registration up to approximately 110,000 registered members by November 2014. For the last 40 years, the only way parties in California have boosted their registration for purposes of qualifying for the ballot has been to hire “salespersons” who go out on the street and try to persuade people to register as a member of that particular party. This “sales” job is difficult, much more difficult than persuading someone to sign a petition. Making it illegal for parties that need more registered members to pay people on a “per-sale” job will make it much more expensive to get the job done.
Governor Brown must act on SB 205 by October 1, 2011.
Newspapers that cover New Jersey are editorializing that Carl Lewis should remain on the ballot as the Democratic nominee for State Senate, 8th district, in the November 8, 2011 election. Although the Third Circuit put him on the ballot, the Republican intervenors appealed that to all the judges of the Third Circuit, and that appeal is still pending. See this Philadelphia Inquirer editorial. Here is an editorial in the Cherry Hill Courier Post.
Here is a story about the appeal, in which Law Professor Frank Askin, an expert on election law, says he expects the full Third Circuit to review the case.
On November 8, 2011, Portland, Maine voters will choose a Mayor using Instant Runoff Voting. This Portland Press Herald story illustrates the ballot. Fifteen candidates are running for Mayor. Voters may rank as many of them as they wish. Click once on the picture of the ballot to magnify it.
The U.S. Supreme Court will consider whether to hear Libertarian Party of New Hampshire v Gardner, 11-119, at its October 7 conference. This is the case on whether a party has a right to prevent its name from being on the ballot next to the name of a candidate that the party didn’t nominate.
The October 7 conference is not the next Supreme Court conference date. The next conference is on September 26. The September 26 conference is the conference at which the Court will wade through the hundreds of cert petitions that have been filed all summer long, while the Court has been out of session.
Chuck Todd, chief White House correspondent for NBC News, predicted on September 14 that if the Republican Party nominates Rick Perry for President, a strong third ticket will emerge in the 2012 election. Todd seems to be describing Americans Elect without actually naming Americans Elect. See this story. Thanks to Political Wire for the link.