Ray Hanyes, a California Republican legislator 1992 through 2002, here defends the National Popular Vote Pact against criticisms from other Republicans.
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On August 1, U.S. District Court Judge Gershwin A. Drain ruled that the 2016 Michigan bill that eliminated the straight-ticket device was passed with intent to discriminate against African-American voters, and is therefore unconstitutional. Michigan A. Philip Randolph Institute v Johnson, e.d. 2:16cv-11844. Here is the 103-page opinion, which says in the summary, “Public Act 268 impermissibly infringes on African-Americans’ right to vote, illustrates a discriminatory intent or purpose on the part of the Michigan legislature, and disparately impacts African-Americans’ opportunity to participate in the political process in conjunction with lingering effects of social and historical discrimination. PA 268, then, violates both the Equal Protection Clause and the Voting Rights Act.”
The opinion strongly suggests that if the Michigan legislature had passed no-excuse early voting, the removal of the straight-ticket device would be constitutional. The opinion notes that 37 states permit no-excuse early voting.
Nothing is said about the discriminatory impact on independent candidates. That is not surprising, because the Michigan Secretary of State, who was defending the elimination of the straight-ticket device, did not mention this point. It would have been better if an organization representing the interests of independent candidates had intervened in the case, at least to file an amicus, but that did not happen. It is extremely likely that the Secretary of State will appeal to the Sixth Circuit. Thanks to Thomas Jones for the news.
On July 31, the Michigan Supreme Court ruled 4-3 that the initiative to set up a nonpartisan redistricting commission should be on the ballot. All sides agreed that it had enough valid signatures, but the opponents charged that the initiative was a revision of the constitution, not just an amendment. Here is a link to the decision and the dissents. The decision is Citizens Protecting Michigan’s Constitution v Secretary of State, 157925. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.
On July 31, the Pennsylvania Green Party submitted petitions for its nominees for all three statewide offices, and three legislative candidates. See this story. Assuming the petition is valid, this will be the first time since 2002 that the Green Party has been on in a gubernatorial election year.
The Charlotte Observer has this op-ed by Chris Anglin, the North Carolina candidate for State Supreme Court Justice whose ability to use a ballot label, “Republican”, is being threatened by the state legislature. Thanks to Howard Bashman for the link.