On September 8, the Virginia State Board of Elections voted to require all local election boards in the state to use vote-counting machines that have a paper trail. Twenty-two localities (either counties or independent cities) had been using electronic machines that don’t produce a paper trail. See this Washington Post story.
On September 5, New Hampshire held a special election to fill a vacant seat in the State House, Grafton 9 district. The results: Republican 50.9%; Democratic 46.8%; Libertarian 2.3%.
When this district voted in November 2016, it elected two members, and the only candidates were two Republicans and two Democrats. Republicans won both seats with a combined 56.3% of the vote.
Law Professor Vikram Amar has this article in Verdict, about the current initiative to divide California into three states. The article says that because one of the three new proposed states would have a fair chance of voting Republican in future presidential elections, the author of the initiative, Tim Draper, will likely face opposition from the Democratic Party.
Amar says if the National Popular Vote Plan were in place, though, that objection from Democrats would cease to exist. So Amar suggests that Draper, who is very wealthy, ought to support the National Popular Vote Plan.
On September 7, the California Senate passed AB 837, by 27-13. It provides that election officials will inform independent voters of their ability to choose the presidential primary ballot of a party that has authorized independent voters to vote in its presidential primary. Posters will be placed at the polling places. Independent voters will be notified by whatever means are available to contact them directly, whether e-mail, text, postal mail, or telephone. The information will also be in the government Voters’ Guide.
Generally, Democrats voted “yes” and Republicans voted “no.” The only exceptions were that Democratic State Senator Steve Glazer voted “no”, and Republican State Senator Anthony Cannella voted “yes.” The bill had already passed the Assembly, but it must return there because the Senate amended the bill.
In 2016, the Democratic, American Independent, and Libertarian Parties let independents vote in their presidential primaries, whereas the Republican, Green, and Peace & Freedom Parties did not.
On September 7, the California Senate passed AB 469 by 30-10. It lowers the number of signatures in lieu of the filing fee. For statewide office, the number falls from 10,000 to 7,000. For U.S. House and State Senate, from 3,000 to 2,000. For Assembly, from 1,500 to 1,000.
The bill also lowers the petition for non-partisan office as well. Current law values four signatures as worth $1 deducted from the filing fee. The bill changes that formula so that three signatures are worth $1.
Mostly, Democrats voted for the bill and Republicans voted against it. One Democrat, Senator Bill Monning, voted “No.” Four Republicans voted yes: Joel Anderson, Anthony Cannella, John Moorlach, and Scott Wilk.
The bill does delete the ability of candidates to submit one petition in lieu of filing fee, and later after the signatures are checked, to submit a supplemental petition. But it makes it possible for the petition in lieu of the filing fee to start 15 days earlier than it was previously allowed to circulate.
Although the bill already passed the Assembly once, the Senate amended it, so it must return to the Assembly next week. It has an urgency clause so needs two-thirds in each house. Of course it already got over two-thirds in each house, each time it was voted on.
