Alaska Ballot Access Bill Advances

On May 16, the Alaska House Rules Committee passed SB 161. It has now passed the Senate and all committees in the house. It will probably receive a vote on the House floor on Tuesday, May 17.

It eases the definition of a qualified party, from registration membership of 3% of the last vote cast (approximately 11,000 registered members) to exactly 5,000.

U.S. Senate Candidate from California Spends Week in Russian-Controlled Parts of Ukraine

John Thompson Parker, the Peace & Freedom Party candidate for U.S. Senate in California, has recently spent a week in the Russian-occupied part of Ukraine. Although other U.S. politicians and members of Congress have also visited Ukraine during May, Parker is probably the only U.S. candidate who has spent his time in the Russian zone. Many activists in the Peace & Freedom Party are also active in parties that operate within PFP. Parker is with the Socialist Unity Party, which split from the Workers World Party in 2018. The Socialist Unity Party newspaper is La Lucha. Here is a link to La Lucha in which Thompson talks about his trip.

Scotusblog Suggests U.S. Supreme Court is Likely to Accept Case on Whether Persons Born in American Samoa are Citizens

Scotusblog here suggests that the U.S. Supreme Court is likely to accept the cert petition in Fitisemanu v U.S., the case over whether persons born in American Samoa are automatically citizens. The lower court had ruled that they are not. The case arose when some individuals living in Utah, who were born in American Samoa and who never went through the naturalization process, could register to vote in Utah. Thanks to Thomas Jones for the link.