Bills have been introduced in both houses of the New York legislature to make it illegal for a qualified party to have the words “independent” or “independence” in its name. In the Assembly, the bill is sponsored by Assemblymember Jeffrey Dinowitz (D-Bronx) and is AB 2600. In the Senate, it is sponsored by Senators James Skoufis and Allesandra Biaggi and is SB 1628. The bill, if enacted, would probably violate the First Amendment.
On January 24, California Assemblymember Brian Maienschein revealed that he has changed his registration from Republican to Democratic. He is the second state legislator this month to have made this change; the first was Maine Representative Don Marean, who switched on January 3.
On January 24, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed AB 779, which moves the petition deadline for independent candidates, and the nominees of unqualified parties, from August to May. The bill also moves the primary for state and local office from September to June.
The new deadline is almost certainly unconstitutional, under the U.S. Supreme Court decision Anderson v Celebrezze. New York now has the nation’s third earliest deadline, when the latest method for getting on the general election ballot for president is compared. The only two earlier states are North Carolina and Texas. A lawsuit is pending against the North Carolina deadline, and a case challenging the Texas deadline is likely to be filed any day now.
Congressmember Steve Cohen introduced a proposed constitutional amendment earlier this month, to provide that the voters elect the President and Vice-President directly. It is HJRes 7. Here is the text. The preamble is interesting.
Single Transferable Vote is a voting system for electing members to legislative bodies. It is one form of proportional representation. Even though it is a very old system, it is not well-known in the United States. Law Professor Steve Mulroy, a proponent of the system, has this clear explanation at ElectionLawBlog.
