The U.S. Supreme Court will hear Gill v Whitford, 16-1161, on Tuesday, October 3. This is the case in which the lower 3-judge U.S. District Court invalidated Wisconsin’s legislative district boundaries as an unconstitutional partisan gerrymander. Thanks to Rick Hasen for this news.
On July 18, the city council of Santa Clara, California, gave tentative approval to using proportional representation for future city council elections. There would be two districts, each electing three city councilmembers. Choice voting (also known as Single Transferable Vote) would be used, so that someone could be elected with support from 25% of the voters within that district.
The Charter Review Commission for Santa Clara had earlier recommended this idea. Santa Clara is a charter city, so the voters would decide whether to make this change, in the June 2018 election. The next step is for the City Attorney to draft the proposed amendment.
Politico has this story, with an interview, about David French. He was the National Review writer who was the choice of William Kristol to enter the 2016 presidential race as a conservative independent alternative to the Republican nominee, Donald Trump.
The story does not mention Evan McMullin, who did enter the race on August 10, 2016.
The Utah state elections office has this registration tally as of July 18, 2017. The percentages: Republican 48.30%; Democratic 11.62%; Independent American 1.71%; Libertarian .85%; Constitution .35%; United Utah .003% (40 registered members); independent and other 37.17%.
Just prior to the November 2016 election, the percentages were: Republican 48.40%; Democratic 11.39%; Independent American 1.41%; Libertarian .81%; Constitution .33%; independent and other 37.66%.
These figures are for active voters. A handful of states also keep track of inactive voters, but traditionally B.A.N. doesn’t use those figures.
The Richmond Times-Dispatch has this editorial, deploring the decision of the Virginia Bar Association to sponsor a gubernatorial debate and to only invite the Democratic and Republican nominees. Apparently the Bar Association doesn’t even have any concrete rules on whom to invite; instead they say they invite “significant” candidates.
