Lower State Court in North Carolina Invalidates Legislative Districts as a Partisan Gerrymander

Posted on by September 3, 2019
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On September 3, a 3-judge Superior Court in Wake County, North Carolina, invalidated the state’s legislative districts as a partisan gerrymander. Common Cause v Lewis, 18cvs-14001. The court used the state constitution to invalidate the districts. Here is the opinion. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link. It is possible the March 2020 primary will now be moved to a later date. UPDATE: Republican state legislators say they will not appeal this decision, and will work to create non-partisan districts.

Alabama Libertarian Party Petition for Special Legislative Election

Posted on by September 3, 2019
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Alabama holds a special election on November 12, 2019, for State House district 42. The Libertarian Party submitted a petition to be included in this race. It needed 448 valid signatures. The party submitted 668 signatures. The Secretary of State then said the petition only has 429 valid signatures, so it is 19 short. However the party has been re-validating the petition, and has already found six more valid signatures that had erroneously been marked “invalid”. The party is only one-fifth of the way through the revalidation process, and is optimistic that it will find enough signatures to make the petition valid.

The Republican nominee is Van Smith; the Democratic nominee is Kenneth Allison; the Libertarian nominee is Doug Ward.

Kamala Harris Snubs Working Families Endorsement Meeting

Posted on by September 1, 2019
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According to this story, U.S. Senator Kamala Harris had been set for an interview with leaders of the Working Families Party, but at the last minute she decided not to attend. The story says that other Democrats running for President had already had similar interviews with the WFP, including Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker, Julian Castro, and Bill de Blasio.

The Working Families Party will eventually endorse someone for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination.

If Maine Governor Signs Ranked Choice Voting Bill, Democratic Presidential Primary Will be Complicated

Posted on by September 1, 2019
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This story about Maine’s bill for ranked choice voting in presidential primaries says that if the bill becomes law, it won’t be easy to combine ranked choice voting with the national Democratic Party rules on apportioning votes. The national rules say any presidential candidate who gets at least 15% in a Democratic primary is entitled to a proportionate number of delegates to the national convention. Squaring that with ranked choice voting is a head-scratcher.

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.