Politico has a story by David Siders titled, “The race for Governor has Turned Into a Scam.” The subtitle is “How California’s Democratic Primary Became a Giant Flop.” The story notes that no candidate has captured the imagination of the voters, that only 13% of the voters have seen any of the gubernatorial debates, and that the Democratic candidates have not engaged in a public discussion about issues.”
On June 4, the U.S. Supreme Court did not issue any full opinions on election law. The next opinion day is Monday, June 11. There are five election law cases pending: three redistricting, one on political clothing at the polls, and one on Ohio’s voter purge procedures.
On June 4 the court did decline to accept Scarnati v Agre, 17-1368. This is the case in which Republican Pennsylvania legislators argued that a 3-judge federal court had violated the rights of the legislators by forcing them to produce internal documents about the redistricting process. They did produce the documents, but then they sued and claimed they should not have been forced to do that, under the Speech or Debate Clause of the U.S. Constitution, which protects the speech of members of Congress and state legislatures. Thanks to Rick Hasen for that news.
This Politico story about the California, 39th U.S. House race, says already ten million dollars has been spent, just for the primary.
This Washington Times story, especially the bottom half, gives a detailed and interesting account of the Montana trial over whether the Green Party has enough valid signatures on its party petition this year. There have been other news stories but this seems to be the most informative. There is no decision yet.
The Reform Party of New York has been ballot-qualified since November 2014. In 2016 a dispute began over the true party officers. On May 31, though, the faction that had lost in the lower court withdrew its appeal. As a result, Curtis Sliwa is the undisputed state chair.
The party was put on the ballot in 2014 by Republican activists who wanted yet another line for the Republican gubernatorial nominee, Rob Astorino. Originally the party’s name was “Stop Common Core.” Astorino polled over 50,000 votes on that line, so it became a qualified party and changed its name to the Reform Party.
In other New York Reform Party news, the party was unable to have former U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara listed on its primary ballot for Attorney General. But the primary for that office will go ahead, with three candidates listed.
