On October 28, the Eleventh Circuit ruled against some Bernie Sanders supporters who donated money to the Democratic Party in 2016. The supporters charged that the party had promised an impartial process for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination, but actually tilted the contest in favor of Hillary Clinton. The 29-page decision in Wilding v DNC, 17-14194, is here.

The decision is by Judge Adalberto Jordan, an Obama appointee. It is also signed by Judge Frank Hull, a Clinton appointee; and Britt C. Grant, a Trump appointee. The decision does not try to determine whether the party did or did not tilt the process. But it says to prevail, the plaintiffs should have showed that they donated money to the party specifically because the party had promised a fair process, and that they would not have donated if they had known that the process was unfair.

Alaska, like most states, requires that initiatives be a single subject. An initiative petition is circulating in Alaska to have a top-four election system with ranked choice voting in the general election (but not the primary). The same initiative also imposes campaign finance restrictions.

On October 28, a State Trial court ruled that the initiative is a single subject, “election law.” The state will ask the State Supreme Court to review that ruling. See this story.

The New York Times is reporting that the state chair of the New York Democratic Party, Jay Jacobs, wants to change the definition of a qualified party from a group that got 50,000 votes for Governor, to one that got 250,000 votes. See this story.

Jacobs wants the Commission that is considering public funding to make the change. The legislature has given the Commission the power to change certain other election laws (the Commission’s changes would automatically become law if the legislature doesn’t veto the Commission’s work).