On January 6, Gregg Brelsford, an Alaska Republican candidate for U.S. House in 2022, changed his registration from “Republican” to “independent.” He will continue seeking a seat in the U.S. House. See this op-ed by him in the Anchorage Daily News.
On January 8, New York city Mayor Eric Adams said he supports the idea of letting non-citizens vote for New York city office. This is an extremely strong signal that he will sign the bill that passed the city council last month. See this story. Even if he doesn’t sign the bill, if he doesn’t veto it either, it becomes law. The deadline is the end of the day, Sunday, January 9.
On January 7, Nicholas Kristof asked the Oregon Supreme Court to reverse an opinion of the Secretary of State, and declare that he meets the Oregon Constitution’s residency requirement for candidates for Governor. State ex rel Kristof v Oregon Secretary of State. See this article, which has a link to his brief. Thanks to Steve Kamp for the link.
On December 6, the Texas Supreme Court issued a 15-page opinion in Re Ranya Khanoyan, 21-1111. The plaintiffs charged that the new Harris County Commission redistricting plan is a partisan gerrymander, planned to help Democrats. The Court said the case was filed too late. It notes that the redistricting plan was passed on October 28, 2021, but the lawsuit against that plan was not filed until November 16, 2021.
Another issue in the case was whether the State Constitution requires that every voter be permitted to vote for County Commissioner at least once every four years. Because county commissioners have 4-year terms, and the elections are staggered, there are some voters who could not vote for County Commissioner in 2020 (because they lived in a district that wasn’t up that year). But now those same voters live in a district in which that district won’t be up in 2022 either, due to boundary changes. The court said that could be adjudicated in the future, and also suggested that the legislature and the voters consider amending the Texas constitution to provide that in the election following redistricting, all districts should have elections, some for 2-year terms and others for 4-year terms.
On January 7, New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham, and New Mexico Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver, issued a joint press release, mentioning election law changes they support. Their list includes letting nominating petition signatures be gathered electronically. Unfortunately they also want to bring back the straight-ticket device. Here is the list. Thanks to Rick Lass for the link.
Their list, unfortunately, does not include adding the statewide initiative. New Mexico and Hawaii are the only western states without the initiative process. Also their list says nothing about abolishing the petition for convention nominees. New Mexico is the only state in which a convention nominee, after being nominated, must submit a petition to be on the general election ballot. Qualified minor parties in New Mexico nominate by convention, but the state irrationally requires them to submit a petition, even though their party has already met a numerical test to show it has a modicum of support. The irrationality of the law can be shown by imagining what people would say if the law required major party primary winners to then submit a petition to be on the November ballot.
