On May 8, a federal lawsuit was filed charging that the ratio between California voters and the number of legislators is so extreme, that Californians effectively do not have a voice in their state legislature. With only 40 State Senators and only 80 Assemblymembers, the typical State Senate district has a population of almost 1,000,000; and the typical Assembly district has a population of almost 500,000.

Plaintiffs include some county supervisors and county sheriffs, and also the California Libertarian Party, the American Independent Party, and the Marin County Green Party. The case is Citizens for Fair Representation v Padilla, e.d., 2:17cv-973. The case is assigned to Judge Kimberly Mueller, an Obama appointee. Here is a Courthouse News Service story about the lawsuit. UPDATE: here is the Complaint. The city of Fort Jones, in Siskiyou County, is a co-plaintiff. The case number on this complaint is just a temporary number, and not the actual case number.

A Libertarian Party, also named Jose Marti Party, has been organized in Cuba. See this story.

On May 9, the California League of Women Voters and other voting rights organizations sued various California public officials over the state’s apparent failure to comply with the federal motor-voter law. That law requires that states have a combined form that allows individuals to renew their drivers license and also register to vote. Instead, when California sends a notice to an individual telling him or her that the drivers license is about to expire, California puts a separate voter registration form inside the envelope, along with the notice about the drivers license.

The voting rights organizations that filed this lawsuit point out that California has one of the lowest voter registration rates in the nation. The case is League of Women Voters of California v Kelly, n.d., 3:17cv-2665. The plaintiffs say they have been bringing this problem to the attention of California officials for two years now. Here is the Complaint. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.