On August 31, the Michigan Board of State Canvassers decided on the wording of the initiative for a nonpartisan redistricting commission. The initiative proposes a board of four Republicans, four Democrats, and five individuals who are not members of either of those parties. The opponents of the initiative wanted it to be labeled on the ballot as a “majority partisan commission”, but the Board voted to call it a “commission of citizens.”
See this story.
On August 30, a broad coalition of New Mexico groups and voters asked the New Mexico Supreme Court to restrain the Secretary of State from imposing a straight-ticket device on the November 2018 ballots. Unite New Mexico v Toulouse Olive, S-1-SC-37227. The plaintiffs include the Democratic nominee for House District 46, who is a declared write-in. Other plaintiffs are Unite New Mexico, which advocates on behalf of independent candidates and voters; the Republican Party; the Libertarian Party; and a PAC, Elect Liberty.
Here is the 20-page petition. Thanks to Bob Perls for the link.
On August 29, the same day New Mexico Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver said she will put a straight-ticket device on the November 2018 ballot, the Republican Party state chair said the party will sue to stop that. See this story.
Darcy Richardson, Reform Party nominee for Governor of Florida, has chosen Nancy Argenziano for his Lieutenant Governor running mate. She is a former Republican state legislator. See the campaign web page. The announcement was made on August 30.
On August 29, the U.S. government filed this brief in the U.S. Supreme Court in Segovia v U.S., 17-1463. This is the case in which the Seventh Circuit upheld the system in which residents of American Samoa and the Northern Mariana Islands may continue to vote absentee in Illinois, if they lived in Illinois before moving to those U.S. possessions. But former voters of Illinois who move to Guam, U.S. Virgin Islands, or Puerto Rico may not.
The U.S. government initially said it wouldn’t bother to file a brief in the U.S. Supreme Court, but then the U.S. Supreme Court requested a response. The government says the plaintiffs lack standing.
