The Albuquerque Journal has this op-ed by Sandra Jeff, the Libertarian Party candidate for Secretary of State of New Mexico, criticizing the straight-ticket device. New Mexico does not use a straight-ticket device, but the incumbent Secretary of State, who is running for re-election, has threatened to bring it back without any legislative authorization. Thanks to Rick Lass for the link.
According to this story, the U.S. Supreme Court has only issued 29 opinions in the current term, so far. This is the lowest number, by this date on the calendar, since 1900. The article was published on April 29. No new decisions were released on April 30. The court generally sits until the end of June.
Five election law cases are still undecided: the Minnesota case over political clothing at the polls, the Ohio case over voter registration purges, and three redistricting cases, from Wisconsin, Maryland, and Texas.
Now is the season for the Democratic Party and the Republican Party to be investigating which city will host their 2020 national conventions.
See this story.
This Detroit News editorial seems to endorse the National Popular Vote Plan. This is significant because the Detroit News historically has been a newspaper that generally supports Republicans.
The Tennessee legislature has now adjourned for the year. Before it adjourned, it passed SB 2497, which shrinks the petitioning period for candidate petitions from 90 days to 60 days. However, the bill leaves presidential petitions at 90 days. Petition blanks won’t be issued until 60 days before the petition deadline (except presidential petitions are available 90 days before the deadline).
