The Hill has this article about the North Carolina legislature’s struggle with the Governor over makeup of the State Election Board, and also another struggle over judicial appointments. On August 27 the legislature will probably finalize the wording of the state ballot measures that are intended to be on the November ballot.
ABC News writer Roey Hadar has this revealing article on how Florida Governors have utter discretion to decide which ex-felons may have their voting rights restored, and which may not. He uses an example of an applicant who had voted illegally, but who told the Governor at the clemency hearing that he had voted for the Governor. The Governor laughed and then restored his voting rights. In another example, an applicant was denied because the Governor was dismayed that he had received traffic tickets.
Iowa held its primaries June 5, and no Republican filed for Attorney General. Now, though, some Iowa Republicans want to get a candidate on the November ballot. They are attempting to complete an independent petition for Patrick Anderson. See this story. Anderson may try to use the ballot label “GOP”. Iowa lets petitioning candidates choose a party label if it not too similar to the name of a qualified party.
On August 25, the Democratic National Committee changed some national party rules. Superdelegates will no longer be able to vote for president on the first ballot at national presidential conventions. See this story. This is a victory for the Bernie Sanders wing of the party. Because virtually all the superdelegates in 2016 were Hillary Clinton supporters, she enjoyed a big lead in the race for the nomination even before any presidential primaries or caucuses had been held.
The Democratic National Committee also passed rules requiring states that use caucuses to allow absentee voting in those caucuses.
On August 22, a Connecticut state trial court ruled that the Waterbury-based faction of the Independent Party includes the true state party officers. The opposing faction, the Danbury-based group, plans to appeal. See this story. The Waterbury faction tends to prefer that the Independent Party run candidates who are not also major party nominees. The Danbury group generally prefers to cross-nominate Republican nominees.
