The First Circuit will hear Lyman v Baker, 18-2235, on September 10, Tuesday, in Boston. This is one of the four cases that challenges the practice of electing presidential electors at-large.
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George Skelton, California’s veteran politics reporter, writes here for the Los Angeles Times that the new California law requiring presidential primary candidates to reveal their income tax returns is just “petty politics.”
Also, the Mail Tribune, the daily newspaper for Medford, Oregon, here editorializes against the idea. The Mail Tribune responded to a recent statement by Oregon Governor Kate Brown, saying Oregon ought to pass a law on this subject next year.
The U.S. Supreme Court has granted Washington state’s “disobedient” 2016 presidential electors more time to file their petition for cert, in Chiafalo v Washington. This is the case over whether the state can fine presidential electors $1,000 if they vote for someone in the electoral college who didn’t receive the most popular votes in the state. The State Supreme Court had upheld the law in May 2019. The cert petition would have been due August 21, but now it is due October 20.
Ballotpedia has examined the candidate lists for the four states that hold regular legislative elections in 2019. See that page here. An astonishing 55.6% of the races lack either a Republican or a Democrat. Thanks to Michael Drucker for the link.
On August 15, U.S. District Court Judge Amy Totenberg issued a 153-page ruling in Curling v Raffensperger, n.d., 1:17ccv-4660. The state may continue to use its vote-counting equipment for 2019 local elections. These machines do not have a paper trail. But the state is absolutely barred from using them afterwards.
The state legislature already passed a bill to phase out the old machines and use new machines in the March 2020 presidential primary and beyond, but the ruling makes it clear that the state has a bad record on not keeping its promises. If the new equipment is not ready for the March 2020 presidential primary, then the state must use paper ballots. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.