Attorneys for the state of California have notified the U.S. Supreme Court that the state does not intend to file any response to the cert petition in the minor party lawsuit against the top-two system. This is fairly common behavior for states at this stage. If the U.S. Supreme Court later decides it wants a response from the state, it will notify the state.
The Associated Press has this story about the August 27 U.S. District Court decision that upholds the 2014 ballot access restriction. That law makes it illegal to circulate the petition for a new party during an odd year.
Canada is electing a new national government on October 19. On August 28, a new poll was released showing a slight lead for the New Democratic Party, a party that has never before named the Prime Minister of Canada.
On August 27, the California Senate Appropriations Committee passed AB 1461, the bill to provide that all adult citizens known to the state should be automatically registered to vote. Such individuals would be informed that they had become registered, and would be given a chance to opt out.
The bill was amended on August 27 to provide for a new category of registered voters, relative to party affiliation. Individuals who were automatically registered, and who did not choose to then make a decision about affiliation, would be categorized “unknown.” This would be a new, separate category from “independent”. Other states that have separate categories for voters who didn’t fill out the affiliation question, versus independent voters, are Alaska, Kentucky, and South Dakota. Thanks to C.T. Weber for the news about the amendment.
The bill is likely to pass. It had passed the Assembly on June 2. The Republican leader in the Assembly, Kristin Olsen, had voted “No” but now she appears to support it, according to remarks she made at a public meeting on August 19.
Frontloading HQ here reports that the District of Columbia Republican Party won’t use the presidential primary to choose delegates to the Republican national convention. Instead it will use a caucus, held in the second half of March.
