Alaska Attorney General Rules that Proposed Initiative for Top-Four Violates Single Subject Rule

Posted on by September 1, 2019
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On August 30, the Alaska Attorney General ruled that a statewide initiative that is being circulated violates the same-subject rule, and is therefor invalid. The initiative leads off with tougher campaign finance restrictions. But then it also includes a section setting up a “top-four” election system, in which the only candidates in the November election (for congress and partisan state office) would be the four candidates who polled the most votes in the August primary. See this story. Thanks to Scott Kohlhaas for the link.

Most states, including Alaska, require that initiatives must deal with just one subject. The attorney general said the campaign finance changes, and the top-four provision, are separate subjects.

California Bill on Independent Voters in Presidential Primaries Advances

Posted on by September 1, 2019
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On August 30, the Senate Appropriations Committee passed AB 681, after amending it. The bill now requires that independent voters receive two postal notices telling them which parties allow independent voters to vote in their primaries, instead of three notices. Also the bill now says that if an independent voter receives a mail ballot that doesn’t include any particular party’s primary ballot, the voter may return it and request a ballot for any party that allows independents to vote in its presidential primary.

The California deadline for parties to tell the state whether they want to allow independents to vote in their presidential primary has not yet passed. But in 2016, the Democratic, Libertarian, and American Independent Party allowed independents to vote in their presidential primary. The Republican, Green, and Peace & Freedom Parties did not.

Green Party Candidates Win Enough Primary Write-ins to Qualify for Tucson Ballot

Posted on by September 1, 2019
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Tucson elects a mayor and city council on November 5, 2019, in a partisan election. The Green Party candidates were all write-in candidates in the Green Party primary. According to this story, all four of them received enough primary write-in votes to be placed on the November ballot.

The Green Party is not ballot-qualified in Arizona, but it is ballot-qualified inside Tucson, and has been for some years. Because it has ongoing status inside Tucson, as opposed to being a “new” party, it faced a requirement that its write-in candidates poll a certain number of write-in votes, as opposed to getting just one write-in.