Every year the Federal Election Commission publishes a very useful free reference book that contains contact information for state election officials. The 2017 “Combined Federal/State Disclosure and Election Directory” is now in print. It can be obtained by phoning the FEC at 800-424-9530. The 147 pages of content are also on the FEC’s web page.
The book also has a section mentioning which legislative committees in each state handle election law bills.
On July 31, a 3-judge U.S. District Court ruled that the North Carolina need not hold a special election in 2017 for state legislative seats. But it said the legislature must pass a redistricting legislative plan by September 1, for the 2018 election. This is all due to an earlier U.S. Supreme Court ruling, upholding a lower court ruling, that the current legislative districts are an unconstitutional racial gerrymander. Covington v State of North Carolina, m.d., 1:15cv-399.
The plaintiffs had urged the court to redraw new districts now and then force the state to use those new districts in a special election held this year.
For the 2018 election only, the ruling suspends the North Carolina law that says candidates for the legislature must have lived in their district for one year. They will only need to live in their district when they file for office.
All North Carolina legislators, Senators and Representatives alike, have two-year terms. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.
On July 25, U.S. District Court Judge James Cacheris, a Reagan appointee, ruled that public officials who set up a Facebook page for discussion of public policy, and who invite public comments, can’t single out particular individuals and bar them from commenting. The page was set up by Phyllis Randall, Chair of the Loudon County, Virginia, Board of Supervisors. Davison v Loudon County Board of Supervisors, e.d. Virginia, 1:16cv-932. Here is the opinion.
The County argued that it doesn’t pay for the Facebook page. But the name of the page is “Chair Phyllis Randall”. The ruling finds that web page still is intrinsically a government-related form of communication, so the free speech provision of the First Amendment applies. Thanks to the Center for Competitive Politics for this news.
On July 28, U.S. District Court Judge W. Keith Watkins, a Bush Jr. appointee, refused to order Alabama election officials to notify many ex-felons that they are now free to register to vote. In the past Alabama had refused to let persons convicted of “moral turpitude” register to vote. But there was no objective standard for knowing which felonies counted, so generally election officials wouldn’t allow any ex-felon to register. But earlier this year the legislature passed HB 282, specifying which felonies are included in that term and which are not. The lawsuit is Thompson v State, m.d., 2:16cv-783.
The plaintiffs, ten voters representing a class of all affected individuals, had already filed a federal lawsuit against the old ex-felon enfranchisement policy. Because that case was still pending, they used that lawsuit to make a new demand that officials notify all the ex-felons who had previously been denied but whose felonies are not on the banned list, that they are now free to register. But U.S. District Court Judge W. Keith Watkins, a Bush Jr. appointee, said that this case cannot be used to do that. Here is his ruling denying injunctive relief. He implies that the plaintiffs should have filed a new lawsuit with a new class of voters. This part of the case had been expedited because the deadline for registering to vote in this year’s special election for U.S. Senate is July 31.
Judge Watkins is the judge who not only ruled against the Libertarian, Green and Constitution Parties in their 2012 lawsuit against the March petition deadline, he imposed court costs of $7,000 on the plaintiffs. The basis for that ruling was that the plaintiffs had missed a legal deadline to have their evidence admitted into the case. That debt has finally been satisfied, with money from the parties and also with substantial help from the Coalition for Free & Open Elections (COFOE).
The Centrist Project is effectively taking on the attributes of a new political party, by recruiting candidates for 2018 to run under a centrist platform. However, it believes that its candidates will do better if they are on the ballot as independent candidates.
It has already arranged to run legislative candidates in Colorado in 2018, and now it has announced that it is seeking a candidate to run for U.S. Senate from Wyoming in 2018. The Republican incumbent, who is running for re-election, is Senator John Barrasso.
