Canada holds a parliamentary election on or before October 21, 2019. The exact date isn’t set yet. As usual, the leaders of five political parties will engage in televised debates with each other. See this story, which explains that a sixth party, one that has never elected a member of parliament, is being excluded.
On August 14, the Secretary of State filed this brief in Patterson v Padilla, S257302, in the California Supreme Court. This is the case that challenges the new presidential primary ballot access law on the grounds that the State Constitution directs the Secretary of State to put all “recognized” candidates on a presidential primary ballot.
The state says the plaintiffs (the state chair of the California Republican Party and the party itself), do not have standing to bring this case. The state suggests that the cases pending in federal court over the federal constitution should be the preferred method of settling the constitutionality of the law.
The state’s brief does not discuss whether or not President Trump is a “recognized” candidate.
The first precedent mentioned in the state’s brief is Salinger v Jordan, a 1964 State Supreme Court opinion over whether Pierre Salinger could have his occupation, “United State Senator”, on the ballot or not. The Secretary of State had denied that label for Salinger because he felt the occupation had to be the same label as it had been in the primary, and Salinger had not been a Senator at the time of the primary. Salinger won the case. In the current case, the state used the Salinger precedent to support its conclusion that it is in the public interest that the voters have information about candidates.
On August 14, the California Senate Appropriations Committee expected to consider SB 696. However, the bill’s author, Senator Tom Umberg, did not attend the hearing. This is the bill to force the American Independent Party to change its name.
The Committee will take up the bill again on Friday, August 30. Thanks to Mark Seidenberg for this news.
On August 14, the California Assembly Appropriations Committee passed SB 212. Currently, only charter cities and charter counties in California may use ranked choice voting for their own elections. The bill extends that to all local governments. Thanks to Steve Chessin for this news.
On August 14, James Hall, the independent candidate for U.S. House in an Alabama special election in 2003, filed this reply brief in the U.S. Supreme Court. Hall v Merrill, 18-1362.
