Out of the 100 U.S. Senators, currently 14 were elected with a number of votes that was less than 50% of the total vote cast for Senate. Dr. Eric Ostermeier calculates this is the largest number of such Senators since immediately after the 1996 election. See his analysis here.
The U.S. Supreme Court will hear Minnesota Voters Alliance v Mansky, 16-1435, on February 28. This is the case in which the lower courts upheld Minnesota’s ban on political clothing at the polls. Eight organizations have submitted amicus briefs in support of the people who challenged the ban. No amici briefs have been filed in defense of the law.
Anyone may read any of the briefs using this U.S. Supreme Court page. The eight organizations opposed to the ban are: the ACLU, the Southeast Legal Foundation, CATO Institute, the Goldwater Institute, the James Madison Center for Free Speech, the Justice & Freedom Fund, the ACRU, and the Center for Competitive Politics (which has since changed its name to the Free Speech Institute).
Washington state HB 1469, which moves the presidential primary from May to March, had been set for House committee action on January 16, but it was put over to Friday, January 19. Thanks to Jim Riley for this information.
On January 17, the West Virginia House Judiciary Committee passed HB 4002. Currently West Virginia’s lower house has many districts that elect several Delegates. The bill would end multi-member districts, and provide for 100 single-member House districts. It would take effect after the 2020 census.
Currently there are eleven House districts with 2 members, six with three members, two with four members, and one with five members. There are also 47 that only have one member.
In committee, the vote was 12-6, with Republicans in favor and Democrats opposed.
On January 11, the Florida House Government Accountability Committee passed CS/HM147. It urges Congress to bring Puerto Rico into the United States. The vote was 21-0.
