Plaintiffs in Case on California’s Huge-Population Legislative Districts File Amended Complaint

Posted on by July 29, 2017
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The plaintiffs in Citizens for Fair Representation v Padilla have written an amended complaint, designed to strengthen the case. This is the lawsuit that says ordinary voters in California have no true representation in the legislature, because State Senate districts have almost 1,000,000 population and Assembly districts have almost 500,000 population. Therefore, ordinary voters have virtually no chance to communicate meaningfully with their own state legislators.

The state does not agree that the court should permit an amended complaint. A hearing will be held August 25 on the issue of whether the amended complaint can be filed.

Michigan Write-in Candidate Wins Court Decision that He Really Won Last November’s Election

Posted on by July 27, 2017
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Ronald Miller was a write-in candidate for the Taylor, Michigan School District in November 2016. Shortly after the election, he checked the election returns in each precinct and learned that he had won one of the seats. However, when the city’s votes were officially tallied by the Wayne County Board of Commissioners, the Board excluded all write-ins in which his name wasn’t spelled properly. Therefore, the Board determined that he was not elected.

He sued to overturn the vote tally. On July 27, a state court agreed that Miller had been elected. See this story. For over 130 years, it is been basic law in the United States that the intent of the voter controls, when write-ins are being counted; perfect spelling is not required.

Taylor, Michigan, is a city of 63,000 population, near Detroit. Thanks to Thomas Jones for the link.

Memphis Will Use Ranked Choice Voting for City Council Elections Starting in 2019

Posted on by July 27, 2017
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Memphis, Tennessee, will use ranked choice voting for its city council elections, starting in 2019. The elections are non-partisan. The plan had passed in Memphis ten years ago, but it took a great deal of time for election officials to obtain vote-counting equipment that would work. See this story. Thanks to Electionline for the link.

Libertarian and Constitution Parties File Brief in South Dakota Ballot Access Case

Posted on by August 5, 2017
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On July 27, the South Dakota Libertarian Party, and the South Dakota Constitution Party, filed this brief against the state’s March petition deadline for newly-qualifying parties. Libertarian Party of South Dakota v Krebs, 4:15cv-4111.

The case was filed in 2015, and is still in U.S. District Court. It argues that the deadline is too early, especially given that winter in South Dakota is generally harsh for outdoor petitioning. After the case was filed, the legislature changed the deadline from March to July, but only for parties that want to be on the ballot for president and certain state executive partisan positions. The March deadline still applies to parties that want to run for Congress, legislature, or Governor.

In 2016, the Libertarian Party was unable to get its party petition finished by the March deadline, but it met the July deadline, so it was on for President and Public Service Commissioner, but no other offices.

Michigan Governor Signs Bill Removing Party Logos from November Ballots

Posted on by July 27, 2017
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On July 26, Michigan Governor Rick Snyder signed HB 4177, which removes party logos from general election ballots. A logo is a cartoon-like drawing representing a political party. For example, the Republican logo in Michigan is a drawing of the heads of Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan.

The motive for this bill is to make it easier for the state to win the pending lawsuit over whether the straight-ticket device should remain on general election ballots. The legislature had repealed the straight-ticket device early in 2016. But then some groups had filed a lawsuit to keep the straight-ticket device, and the U.S. District Court Judge issued an injunction, requiring the state to retain the straight-ticket device until the lawsuit is settled. That lawsuit is now undergoing discovery.

One of the arguments made by proponents of the straight-ticket device was that if the device were removed, some confused voters would draw a circle around one of the party logos, and these voters would think drawing such a circle would be casting a straight-ticket vote for all that party’s nominees. But, now that logos are gone, that argument disappears. Thanks to John Anthony LaPietra for the news.