The United Utah Party has organized and is hoping to get on the ballot by the end of May 2017. See this story. If it does so, presumably it can participate in the upcoming special U.S. House election. There is probably a substantially overlap between the people who formed this party, and the people who backed Evan McMullin’s presidential campaign last year. The party needs 2,000 valid signatures. Thanks to Political Wire for the link.
As already noted, the New York Assembly recently passed two important election law bills. AB 2064 authorizes early voting (also called “no excuse absentee voting”). AB 3052 moves the independent candidate petition deadline from August to May, and moves the primary for state and local office from September to June.
Although the Assembly passed both bills on the same day, the Senate is treating the two bills differently. AB 2064 has been sent to the Senate Elections Committee, but AB 3052 was sent to the Veterans, Homeland Security & Military Affairs Committee.
Two lawsuits are currently pending to force the Commission on Presidential Debates to ease its rules on who can participate in general election presidential debates. One of those cases, Level the Playing Field v Federal Election Commission, charges that the FEC has a duty to enforce federal campaign finance law, and that this means the FEC must tell the Commission to change its policy. The other co-plaintiffs in this case are Peter Ackerman, the Green Party, and the Libertarian Party.
In February 2017, U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan had ruled that the FEC had not done a good job of evaluating the evidence, and she ordered the FEC to try again. In March the FEC had reconsidered the evidence, but had stuck to its original position that the Commission is not breaking federal campaign law. Plaintiffs feel that new FEC determination, like the original one, is arbitrary, capricious, and contrary to law.
On May 22, Judge Chutkan ruled that the plaintiffs can supplement their original complaint to argue that the new FEC determination is incorrect. This saves the plaintiffs from having to file an entirely new lawsuit. After the supplemental complaint is filed, the FEC will have 60 days to respond. The FEC agrees that it is proper in this case to allow a supplemental complaint instead of requiring an entirely new lawsuit. Thanks to Shawn Griffiths for this news.
On the evening of May 19, the Alabama legislature adjourned for the year. It did not pass HB 552, which would have eased the independent petition in special elections from 3% to 1% of the last gubernatorial vote. The bill had passed the House 83-6, but it went no further. Because this bill did not pass, the state will continue to argue in the Eleventh Circuit that last year’s U.S. District Court decision, striking down the 3% in special elections, was wrongly decided. The briefs have all been filed. The case is Hall v Merrill, 16-16766.
The only election law bills of importance that passed were: (1) HB 282, which explains which crimes are crimes of “moral turpitude” for purposes of voter registration; and (2) SB 108, which says that if a voter voted in a primary, and there is a runoff for that same office afterwards for any party, then the voter who had voted in the first primary can’t vote in the runoff unless he or she chooses the same party’s ballot.
Other election law bills that failed included many bills to allow for early voting.
On May 22, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-3 that North Carolina’s original U.S. House district boundaries at the beginning of this decade were unlawful. Cooper v Harris, 15-1262. The vote was 5-3. Justice Gorsuch did not participate because he had not been on the court when the case had been argued. Justices in the majority are the author, Elena Kagan; and Stephen Breyer, Ruth Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor, and Clarence Thomas.
This decision will not compel the legislature to redraw the districts. A 3-judge U.S. District Court had also invalidated the districts on February 5, 2016. In response, the state had redrawn them. Because of the redrawing early in 2016, North Carolina had held two primaries in 2016. The presidential, U.S. Senate, and state office primaries had been March 15, 2016; the U.S. House primaries had been on June 7, 2016.
The case name in the U.S. Supreme Court is Cooper v Harris, 15-1262. In the 3-judge court it had been Harris v McCrory. It is somewhat ironic that the U.S. Supreme Court name lists Governor Roy Cooper as the appellant, because Governor Cooper is a Democrat and he welcomes the May 22 decision. As a result of the May 22 decision, it will be easier for Democrats to challenge other gerrymandered districts in the south. See Rick Hasen’s analysis of the decision.
There are other pending cases, challenging the new (2016) districts.
