On July 5, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf, a Democrat, vetoed SB 48. This bill would have eliminated the straight-ticket device.
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Paul Muschick, columnist for the Allentown, Pennsylvania, Morning Call, has this column, calling on Governor Tom Wolf to sign SB 48. That is the bill that abolishes the straight-ticket device, and also funds new vote-counting machines.
On July 4, Congressman Justin Amash of Michigan said he has left the Republican Party and is now an independent. See this story. In Michigan, there is no registration by party, so any voter is whatever affiliation he or she proclaims, with no paperwork involved in a party switch.
Amash is now the only member of the U.S. House who is neither a Republican nor a Democrat. In the Senate, there are two independents, from Vermont and Maine, Bernie Sanders and Angus King.
On July 3, U.S. District Court Judge Kristin G. Baker enjoined the new Arkansas petition requirement for newly-qualifying parties. Libertarian Party of Arkansas v Thurston, e.d., 4:19cv-214. Here is the 63-page order.
Earlier this year, the Arkansas legislature had increased the party petition from 10,000 signatures, to 3% of the last gubernatorial vote, which is currently 26,746 signatures. The order says, on page 49, “There is no record evidence before the Court that explains the State’s interest – let alone a compelling one – in requiring new political parties to meet the 3% requirement, file a petition more than a year in advance of the general election, and collect signatures in a 90-day window.” On page 51, the order says, “There is no record evidence of ballot overcrowding. In fact, Mr. Hood, the State of Arkansas’ own expert, conceded that a ballot with only a Democrat, a Republican, and a Libertarian would not be an overcrowded ballot.”
Page 55 says, “There is no record evidence that requiring the State of Arkansas if the LPAR presents a petition with at least 10,000 signatures of registered voters would do any harm to either the Secretary of State, the State of Arkansas, or the public.”
The number of signatures is enjoined. The court did not enjoin the early petition deadline because the Libertarian Party doesn’t need relief from that deadline, having collected over 18,600 signatures during April, May, and June 2019. But the order does say that even though the September 2019 petition deadline is not being enjoined, it is likely unconstitutional also.
On July 3, the California Assembly Elections Committee passed SB 696, which says that no party can have “independent” as part of its name. The vote was 5-1. Five witnesses were there to oppose the bill. Assemblymember James Gallagher (R-Yuba City) was the only “no” vote; he predicted that the bill would be held to violate the First Amendment.
Although this bill had previously passed the State Senate, it was an entirely different bill then. If it passes the Assembly, it will then need to return to the State Senate.