On September 16, the Working Families Party announced that it endorses Elizabeth Warren for the Democratic nomination. See this story. Thanks to Thomas Jones for the link.
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The Orange County Register has this op-ed by Jon Coupal and Martin Wilson, concerning California AB 1451. The legislature passed it September 11. It makes it much more difficult to qualify a statewide initiative. The op-ed criticizes the bill, which requires that at least 10% of the signatures be collected by unpaid individuals, and which bans “directly or indirectly” paying circulators on a per-signature basis. Thanks to Jack Dean for the link. The bill has not yet been signed.
Greenburg, Quinlan and Rosner, a polling firm that works for Democrats, has released a poll for the 2020 presidential race. Respondents were asked to choose among one of three Democrats, President Trump, and a hypothetical Libertarian nomination of Justin Amash.
Scroll down to question 57 for the Biden hypothethical: Biden 49%, Trump 40%, Amash 4%, someone else 2%, undecided or no answer 5%.
Question 59 has: Warren 48%, Trump 41%, Amash 5%, other 2%, undecided or no answer 4%.
Question 61: Sanders 48%, Trump 43%, Amash 5%, other 2%, undecided or no answer 2%.
Question 53, about the Republican presidential primaries, which was asked only of Republicans, found that Trump has 85% of the Republican primary vote.
Question 56, asked of Democrats, has the Democratic presidential primaries, and shows Biden leading the Democratic race. Thanks to Clifford Thies for the link.
On September 9, this reply brief was filed in the Fourth Circuit in Baten v McMaster, 19-1297. The issue is whether the U.S. Constitution bars states from electing presidential electors on an at-large basis. This brief was filed by the opponents of at-large elections. The case will now be set for oral argument. It is one of four similar cases. The others are in Massachusetts, Texas, and California.
Briefing is complete in the California case, and it may be argued as early as January 2020. Briefing is still not completed in the Texas case. The Massachusetts case was argued September 10, 2019. All four of these cases lost in U.S. District Court.
On September 13, the California legislature passed AB 681. It lets voters change their party affiliation as late as primary day, without filling out a new voter registration form. It lets voters change their party by telephone, fax, or e-mail, as well as in person at the polls.
It also provides that all voters will be sent a piece of postal mail several months before a primary, telling them what their party affiliation is. In the case of independent voters, two such notices will be sent.
Assuming Governor Newsom signs AB 681, this bill will resolve the problems that were present in the last presidential primary, when some voters did not know they were registered in the American Independent Party, and were disappointed not to be able to request the ballot of some other party.