U.S. District Court Validates Illinois Primary Petitions Even if Boundaries Change

Although Illinois has drawn new U.S. House district boundaries for the 2010’s decade, those boundaries are under legal attack and could conceivably change before the March 2012 primary. On August 26, a U.S. District Court in Chicago ruled that signatures collected by candidates seeking a place on the primary ballot in 2012 are valid, even if the boundaries later change. See this story.

This ruling may help the Illinois Green Party, which is fighting to retain its qualified status in over a dozen U.S. House and state legislative districts. Illinois says a party that polled 5% for a partisan district office in one election is then qualified to be on the ballot automatically in the next election for that district office, even if the party is not qualified statewide. However, even though the Green Party has this status in over a dozen districts from the 2010 election, elections officials may eliminate the party’s status on the grounds that the boundaries of those districts changed.

Washington State Political Parties file Rebuttal Briefs in Top-Two Case Pending in 9th Circuit

On August 25, the Washington state Democratic, Republican, and Libertarian Parties filed their rebuttal briefs in Washington State Republican Party v Washington State Grange, 11-35125. All the briefs are now in. The 9th circuit will probably hold an oral argument in this case in the next few months. This is the lawsuit, originally filed in 2005, that challenges the top-two system in Washington state. The case has been up to the U.S. Supreme Court and back down again.

Here is the Republican brief; here is the Democratic brief; here is the Libertarian brief.

Utah Republican Party Uses Instant-Runoff Voting to Choose a New State Legislator

On August 25, the Davis County, Utah, Republican Party held a special meeting to choose a new State Representative in the 17th District. The seat is vacant because the previous legislator had resigned. In Utah, when a legislative seat is vacant, the vacancy is filled by the Governor, who chooses the person chosen by the party that had won the last election for that seat. Eight Republicans sought the party’s approval, so the meeting used Instant Runoff Voting to make the choice. See this story.

AP-Roper Poll Asks Voters to Identify as “Democrat”, “Republican”, “Independent” or “None of These”

The United States has become accustomed to polls that ask voters if they are Democrats, Republicans, or independents. On August 25, AP-GfK Roper Polls released a poll that gives respondents four choices: Democrat, Republican, Independent, or “None of these”. The results: Independent 30%, Democrats 29%, Republicans 21%, “none of these” 20%.

The poll was conducted August 18-22 and had 1,000 respondents. See page 10 of the poll for the question about affiliation. It follows the page that has the questions about religion and abortion. AP-GfK Roper has been asking this four-choice question about partisan affiliation for several years.

Politico Story on Donald Trump Possible Independent Bid, and that Rick Perry is Talking to Trump

On August 26, Politico carried this story that not only reiterates the news that Donald Trump may run as an independent presidential candidate, but also that Texas Governor Rick Perry has recently had several phone conversations with Donald Trump. It seems most likely that Perry is seeking an endorsement from Trump, but the content of the phone conversations is not revealed in the story.