On January 19, the Alaska Supreme Court issued a two-page order saying the top-four initiative does not violate the Alaska Constitution. The order says an explanation will be issued in the future. Here is the order, which came only 24 hours after the oral argument.
On January 19, the Oklahoma State Election Board released new registration data, as of January 15. The new totals are: Republican 1,122,582; Democratic 696,723; Libertarian 17,981; independent and miscellaneous 381,088.
The percentages are: Republican 50.60%; Democratic 31.41%; Libertarian .81%; independent and miscellaneous 17.18%.
The percentages on October 31, 2021, were: Republican 50.61%; Democratic 31.67%; Libertarian .79%; independent and miscellaneous 16.93%.
In a week or so, California will release a new registration tally, which will determine whether the Common Sense Party qualified.
On January 19, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Federal Election Commission v Ted Cruz for Senate, 21-12. The issue is a law that limits the amount of money a federal candidate may receive in donations after the election, when he or she has gone into debt before the election and the purpose of soliciting donations is to retire the debt. The law limits such post-election donations to $250,000. See this story. The lower court had struck down the limit. The law applies equally to candidates who won or lost the election.
One can hear the audio of the argument using this link.
Four New Mexico representatives have introduced HJR 5, a proposed constitutional amendment. It would provide that independent voters could choose any party’s primary ballot. If a party refuses to allow independents to vote in its primary, it would be required to pay the election-administration costs of that primary. The sponsors are two Democrats (Meredith A. Dixon and Joy Garratt) and two Republicans (Kelly K. Fajardo and T. Ryan Lane). Thanks to Rick Lass for this news. Here is the text.
On January 13, William (Bill) Mohr died at the age of 62. He was the Constitution Party’s vice-presidential nominee in 2020, and had been state chair of the Michigan party. See this obituary. Thanks to Thom Holmes for this news.
