Some New Mexico County Clerks May Disobey Directive from Secretary of State on Straight-Ticket Device

Posted on by September 2, 2018
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This Las Cruces Sun News story says some county election officials may not obey the Secretary of State’s directive to add a straight-ticket device to the November 2018 ballots. Thanks to Rick Lass for the link.

UPDATE: the Albuquerque Journal has this September 2 editorial, saying that the straight-ticket device is not a good idea, because voters ought to be responsible enough to make an individual decision about each partisan race on the ballot.

FURTHER UPDATE: here is a memo sent to each New Mexico county clerk, setting for the case that the clerk should not put the device on the ballot.

Missouri Lower State Court Retains Initiative on Ballot Despite Charge that Circulators Were Not Always Present When Signatures were Gathered

Posted on by September 2, 2018
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On August 31, a Missouri trial court ruled that a statewide initiative should be on the ballot, even though opponents of that initiative charged that many of the signatures were obtained without a circulator present at the time. Some of the sheets were fastened to bulletin boards so that passers-by could sign, even though no circulator was physically present. The judge ruled that the Missouri Supreme Court ruled in 1978 that initiatives cannot be disqualified on that basis; if the petition was signed by the required number of registered voters, it should be on the ballot. See this story. The case is Bradshaw v Ashcroft, Cole Co., 18AC-cc320. Thanks to Ken Bush for the link.

Michigan Asks Sixth Circuit to Let it Remove the Straight-Ticket Device in 2018

Posted on by September 1, 2018
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On August 30, the Michigan Secretary of State asked the Sixth Circuit to stay the U.S. District Court’s order that puts the straight-ticket device on the ballot for the November 2018 election. Here is the brief. The case number is 18-1910.

The state legislature had repealed the device in 2016, but it has continued to appear on general election ballots because U.S. District Court Judge Gershwin Drain believes that removing the device injures African-American voters.

In 2016, the state had also asked the Sixth Circuit for a stay, and the Sixth Circuit had not granted a stay. However, in 2016, its order hinted that the Sixth Circuit judges weren’t really persuaded that the existence of the straight-ticket device violates the U.S. Constitution.

Colorado Republican Party Files Amicus in “Faithless Electors” Case

Posted on by September 1, 2018
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On August 31, the Colorado Republican Party filed this amicus curiae brief in the Tenth Circuit in Baca v Williams, 18-1173. This is the case over whether presidential electors have a right to vote for anyone who meets the constitutional qualifications to be president, or whether states can force them to vote for the presidential candidate who received the most popular votes in that state.

The lawsuit had been filed in 2016 by several Democratic presidential electors, so it is somewhat odd that the Republican Party is intervening. The Republican Party supports the position of the state of Colorado. The state believes that any presidential candidate who votes for someone other than the popular vote winner thereby ceases to be an elector, even though the voters in November chose the electors.