On February 11, the Virginia legislature passed HB 1507, which moves the 2011 primary from June to September 13. Virginia elects state legislators in odd years, including 2011. The legislature moved the 2011 primary because the new legislative district boundaries can’t be ready in time for a June 2011 primary. The bill moves the petition deadline for independent candidates, and for the nominees of unqualified parties, into September as well.
On February 10, the Hamilton County, Ohio, Board of Elections ask the 6th circuit to rehear Hunter v Hamilton County Board of Elections, 11-3060. This is the lawsuit over a local partisan judicial race from November 2010, in which all the votes still haven’t been counted. The race is very close and the uncounted provisional ballots will determine the winner. The original 3-judge panel of the 6th circuit had ruled 2-1 in favor of counting provisional ballots, in which the voters were not at fault. Several precincts were voting in the same building. Precinct polling place officials directed some voters to the wrong end of the room, so those voters inadvertently voted in the wrong precinct. Yet Hamilton County had let certain other provisional ballots count. The majority of the 6th circuit, and also the U.S. District Court, had ruled that Hamilton County was not treating all voters equally, under Bush v Gore. But the State Supreme Court of Ohio had already ruled that provisional ballots of this type cannot be counted. Here is the board’s request for a rehearing. Thanks to Moritzlaw for the link.
On February 10, U.S. District Court Judge Jed Rakoff denied the state’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit Conservative Party of New York et al v New York State Board of Elections, southern district, 10-cv-6923. This is the case that challenges New York’s policy on counting votes, when a voter fills in two circles on the paper ballot, in essence voting twice for the same candidate, once under one of the candidate’s party labels, and another vote for the same candidate on another party label. The state’s policy is to credit such votes for the party label that is highest on the ballot, which invariably means for the Democratic or Republican Parties.
Until 2010, the state used mechanical voting machines, and it was physically impossible for any voter to vote twice for the same candidate. If the voter pulled one lever, that recorded the vote for one particular party label. The machine did not let the voter pull two levers in the same race. But starting in 2010, the state uses paper ballots, so there is no physical barrier preventing a voter from filling in two circles in the same race.
Connecticut handles this problem differently. In Connecticut, the vote is counted for the minor party, not the major party. The major parties in Connecticut don’t seem to mind this policy.
Judge Rakoff said he would issue an explanation for his order later, and set up the case for further briefing, and perhaps a trial. See this story.
On February 11, a Colorado bill to provide for all-mail voting was withdrawn by the sponsor, after it appeared the bill had considerable opposition. The bill was HB 1131. See this story.
Nebraska State Senator William P. Avery (D-Lincoln) has introduced LB 399. It eliminates the county distribution requirement for statewide non-presidential independent petitions. In 2007 the legislature had changed the law for statewide independent candidates (for office other than President), by saying the petition must be signed by at least 50 voters from each of one-third of the 93 counties.
Since the 2007 change, no statewide non-presidential independent has managed to qualify for the ballot. To get at least 50 signatures from each of 31 counties means having to collect signatures from counties in which fewer than 4,000 votes were cast in the last presidential election. A large majority of Nebraska counties have very small populations.
The bill instead requires at least 750 signatures from each of the three U.S. House districts. The constitutionality of the existing law is being challenged in U.S. District Court in Citizens in Charge v Gale, 4:09-cv-3255. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1969 that county distribution requirements for statewide petitions are unconstitutional. Nebraska once had a county distribution requirement for petitions to recognize new parties, but that law, which only required signatures from 19 counties, was declared unconstitutional in 1984 in Libertarian Party of Nebraska v Beermann.
On February 10, the Kentucky Senate passed SB 41 by a vote of 23-13. It says that independent voters may vote in partisan primaries. An identical bill by the same author had passed the Kentucky Senate in 2010 by a vote of 25-12, but the 2010 bill then went to the House and did not even receive a hearing. Perhaps this year the House will treat the bill differently.