On May 1, the city council of London, Ontario, Canada, voted to use ranked-choice voting for the city’s elections for its own officers. See this story. It will be used for the first time in 2018. All city elections in Canada are non-partisan.
Reply
On May 10, New Hampshire Representative Joseph Stallcop held a press conference to say he is switching party registration from Democratic to Libertarian. He represents the Cheshire County 4th district, and had been elected without opposition as a Democrat in 2016. He is 21 years old.
Because the Libertarian Party now has two state representatives, it is entitled to be recognized as a caucus, with its own room in the capitol. Stallcop has become a dues-paying member of both the national and state Libertarian Parties. Thanks to Independent Political Report and Darryl Perry for this news.
On May 9, Oklahoma held a special election to fill the vacant State House seat, 28th district, centered on Seminole County in the center of the state. The results: Republican Zack Taylor 50.48%; Democrat Steve Barnes 48.16%; Libertarian Cody Presley 1.36%.
In November 2016, the results in this seat had been: Republican 66.82%; Democratic 33.18%.
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.
British Columbia held an election on Tuesday, May 9. The results: Liberal 43, New Democratic 41, Green 3. Previously the Green Party had only one seat. See this story. It is possible one seat will be changed by a recount. In the recount changes the result, then the Liberal Party would have 44, enough for a majority.
This is probably the first time since 1953 that no party won a majority in the British Columbia legislature. The three Green Party victories were all in districts that are not on the mainland. See this story.