Foreign Policy has this article by Lee Drutman, suggesting that the United States would be better off with a multi-party system. He writes, “All else equal, modest multiparty democracies (with three to seven parties) perform better than two-party democracies. Such a party system regularizes cross-partisan compromises and coalition building. Since parties need to work together to govern, more viewpoints are likely to be considered.”
Edward Stack, CEO of Dick’s Sporting Goods and a billionaire, is thinking about running for president as an independent candidate in 2020. He lives near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and in the past has been a contributor to Republican Party candidates. See this story. Thanks to PoliticalWire for the link.
On October 22, some leaders of the Colorado Working Families Party endorsed Bernie Sanders for the Democratic presidential nomination. However, the Working Families Party of Colorado did not itself endorse Sanders. This post has been amended since it was first posted.
On October 22, the Pennsylvania Senate State Government Committee amended SB 421 and passed it. The bill repeals the straight-ticket device; eases the deadline for voters to register to vote from 30 days to 15 days before an election; eases the deadline for absentee ballots to be received; lets anyone cast an absentee ballot; legalizes using rubber stamps to cast write-in votes; and repeals the requirement that petition circulators live in the jurisdiction for which the petition applies. It also appropriates money for new vote-counting machines that have an audit trail.
The residency requirement for circulators had already been declared unconstitutional, so that part of the bill merely brings the code up-to-date on actual policy. Thanks to David Sturrock for this news.
On October 21, the Arkansas Libertarian Party filed this brief in the Eighth Circuit in Libertarian Party of Arkansas v Thurston, 19-2503. The U.S. District Court earlier this year enjoined the new petition requirement for new parties, 3% of the last gubernatorial vote. The state is trying to persuade the Eighth Circuit to overturn that order. The state’s reply brief is due November 12.
