California elects an Insurance Commissioner on a partisan basis. Last month, Steve Poizner changed his registration from Republican to independent. He served as California’s Republican Insurance Commissioner 2006-2010. He has just announced that he will run for his old office in 2018, but this time he will be an independent candidate.

He will be handicapped by the California law that does not permit independent candidates to have the label “independent” on the ballot. Instead he must have “party preference: none.”

On February 12, a trial started in Lopez v Abbott, s.d., 2:16cv-303. This is a civil rights election law case filed in July 2016, alleging that the Texas system for electing State Supreme Court Justices, and also Justices of the Court of Criminal Appeals, makes it almost impossible for hispanics to be elected. The lawsuit argues that these elections should not be statewide, but that judges should be elected from single-member districts.

These elections are partisan and Republicans have won all of them since 1994. The trial is expected to last a full week. If the plaintiffs win, Texas judicial elections would not longer be a means for minor parties to retain their places on the ballot, because only statewide races count for that purpose.

On January 16, U.S. Senators Marco Rubio (R-Florida) and Chris Van Hollen (D-Maryland) introduced S2313. It is pending in the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee. It requires the Director of National Intelligence to determine whether any foreign government did any of these things: (1) obtain unauthorized access to election and campaign infrastructure; (2) block or degrade otherwise legitimate and authorized access to election and campaign infrastructure or related systems or data; (3) use social or traditional media to spread significant amounts of false information to individuals in the United States; (4) spend money for internet advertising about U.S. candidates.

The bill specifically mentions Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea. It does not say those countries have done any of the actions, but it says if it is determined that they did, it outlines specific actions to be taken by the U.S. government in retaliation. Thanks to Election Administration Reports for this news.