Pennsylvania State Court Allows a Trial on Reliability of ExpressVote XL Machines

Posted on by October 18, 2021
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A Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court judge has ruled that some voters are entitled to a trial over the reliability of vote-counting machines used in Philadelphia and Northampton Counties. See this story. The machines, known as ExpressVote XL, are manufactured by Elections Software & Systems (ESS) Corporation. They work by having a voter insert a blank ballot into the machine. Then the voter uses the computer touch-screen to mark the ballot.

Most vote-counting machines in the U.S. are different. They ask the voter to fill out a paper ballot, which is then inserted into the vote-counting device.

Christian Science Monitor Story on Negotiations for a New German Government

Posted on by October 18, 2021
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The Christian Science Monitor has this story about negotiations between various political parties to form a new German government. The title of the story is “As German Coalition Starts to Gel, a libertarian Party Plays Kingmaker.” The reference is to the Free Democratic Party, which placed fourth and which is described as a libertarian party of sorts.

Top-Two Has Existed in Washington for Thirteen Years, and in California for Ten Years, and it Has Never Allowed Any Minor Party Member onto the November Ballot if Both Major Parties Ran Someone

Posted on by October 18, 2021
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The top-two system has existed in Washington state starting in 2008, and in California since 2011. In both states, we now have an abundance of evidence that top-two is destructive to minor parties and to voters who want to vote for minor party candidates in the general election.

There have been 186 instances when a minor party member ran for federal or state office under a top-two election in those two states, and there is not one single instance when any of them managed to qualify for the general election ballot, except in races when one of the two major parties didn’t run anyone.

Anyone who knows this, and who is in favor of letting minor parties exist, ought to be persuaded not to support a top-two system. Unfortunately, there are voices who are pro-third party, but who still say they favor top-two systems. One is Andrew Yang; another is journalist and political activist Jared Alper of New York state, who has this Fulcrum article that expresses dismay at how minor parties are treated in the U.S. (especially in debates) but who says he is in favor of “nonpartisan primaries”, which is a synonym for top-two, top-four, and top-five systems. Thanks to Fairvote for the link.

U.S. District Court Judge Refuses to Stay Her Own Order Granting Ballot Access Relief in Georgia

Posted on by October 18, 2021
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On October 18, U.S. District Court Judge Leigh Martin May refused Georgia’s request to stay her opinion, setting new, easier ballot access procedures for all independent candidates, and all nominees of unqualified parties, for U.S. House, legislature, and partisan county office. Cowen v Raffensperger, n.d., 1:17cv-4660. Here is the six-page order.

The relief ordered by Judge May is not easy; it means collecting signatures of 1% of the number of registered voters in the district, and paying a fee of 3% of the office’s annual salary. But it is certainly better than the statute, which requires 5% petitions.

It is likely that the state will now ask the 11th circuit for a stay, but that won’t be easy to get, because, as Judge May’s order says, the 11th circuit already had this case once and was more favorable toward the plaintiffs than she had been initially. She had first denied any relief, but then the 11th circuit had remanded the case and instructed her to depend more on the evidence and less on the 1971 unfavorable precedent Jenness v Fortson.