The national Green Party meeting in Salem, Massachusetts, has just ended on Sunday, July 28. The party raised almost $10,000 at the fundraiser. When more news about the meeting comes in, this post will be expanded.
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Ukraine held a parliamentary election on Sunday, July 21. Nine parties won seats, under the proportional representation system. However, the new political party that supports President Volodymyr Zolensky won an absolute majority. This is the first time any party has won a majority since Ukraine became independent in 1991.
The new party is “Servant of the People”, the same name as the television show that made a star out of President Zelensky. He was an actor in that series and he played the president of Ukraine. Then, earlier this year, in the actual presidential election, Zelensky became a real-life candidate and became the actual president.
The Servant of the People Party did not have any nominees for Parliament who were incumbent members of the Parliament. The party is pro-European Union and has strong libertarian tendencies. Thanks to Thomas Jones for the link.
On July 24, the Connecticut Secretary of State filed this brief in the U.S. Supreme Court in Feehan v Marcone, 18-1470. This case involves the election count for State Representative, 120th district, in November 2018. The Republican nominee, Jim Feehan, lost by 13 votes. But then it was discovered that either 75 or 76 voters had been given the wrong ballot. Even though they lived in the 120th district, they were accidentally given a ballot for the 122nd district.
Feehan asked for a new election, but the state courts said that only the legislature could authorize that. The legislature refused, because it said Feehan had not provided evidence showing that if the 75 or 76 ballots had been counted, he would have won. Feehan returned to the state courts, but they refused any relief, so he filed with the U.S. Supreme Court on May 24. The state asked for more time to respond, but now it has responded. The state says the mistake was just an accident, and therefore nothing in the U.S. Constitution provides any relief to a candidate in this situation.
David Siders has this Politico article on whether or not Governor Gavin Newsom of California will sign SB 27. This is the bill to require presidential primary candidates to reveal their tax returns, or be barred from the California presidential primary ballot. The deadline for the Governor to decide is Tuesday, July 30.
The Tenth Circuit has jurisdiction of Baca v Griswold, 18-1173, a case over whether presidential electors have a constitutional right to vote for any qualified candidate in the electoral college, or whether they can be “fired” if they vote for someone other than the presidential candidate who got the most votes in that state.
Recently the Tenth Circuit panel asked both sides to discuss some possible procedural objections to the lawsuit. Both sides then filed a joint brief, agreeing with each other that there are no procedural impediments to this case, and asking that the Tenth Circuit decide the issue. The joint brief also contains the interesting information that the Washington state presidential electors case will be brought before the U.S. Supreme Court. The Washington State Supreme Court last month had ruled that it is constitutional to levy a $1,000 fine against presidential electors who “disobey.”