On May 14, the plaintiffs in Reeves v Nago, in U.S. District Court in Hawaii, filed an amended complaint. This is the lawsuit over voting rights for residents of Hawaii who move to a U.S. territory, and who wish to continue voting absentee in Hawaii. Although the U.S. District Court had ruled on April 23 that the plaintiffs lack standing, the judge had allowed the plaintiffs to file an amended complaint to try to cure the standing problem. 1:20cv-433. Here is the amended complaint.
The Connecticut public funding law for candidates for state office does not allow the money to be spent to criticize someone running for another office. In 2014 two Republican nominees for State Senator criticized the Democratic gubernatorial candidate, and they used public funding to disseminate that message. After many years, they were fined by the state Elections Enforcement Commission.
On May 20, the Connecticut Supreme Court unanimously cleared the way for the two Republican candidates to fight their fines on free speech grounds. Although the Supreme Court did not decide the issue, it said the lower courts had been wrong to dismiss the lawsuit on procedural grounds. Markley v State Elections Enforcement Commission, SC 20305. Here is the eleven-page opinion. Thanks to the Institute for Free Speech for this news.
On May 18, county initiatives were on the ballot in Baker, Grant, Malheur, Lake, and Sherman Counties to direct county officials to begin discussions of those counties leaving Oregon and joining Idaho. The average “yes” vote in those five counties was 62%.
Similar measures passed in November 2020 in Jefferson and Union Counties. Similar measures were defeated at the same time in Douglas and Wallowa Counties. See this story.
This article says that Vietnam is holding a national assembly election on May 23, and that 92% of the candidates listed on the ballots are Communist Party members. Some independents are allowed to run, but they must be approved by a group that is largely controlled by the Communist Party.
On May 18, the Delaware House passed HB 30 by 37-4. It moves the non-presidential primary from September to the fourth Tuesday in April. That has the indirect result of moving the deadline for a new party to qualify from August to early April. There is no reason for the deadline for new parties to be advanced, because new parties, and all small qualified parties, nominate by convention, not by primary. But because the law has always linked the party qualification deadline to the date of the primary, the effect of moving the primary also moves the minor party deadline.
The bill has no effect on independent candidate petition deadlines, because they are not linked to the date of the primary. They would continue to be in July.
