Kansas State Court Judge Keeps ACLU Lawsuit on Voter Registration Forms Alive

Posted on by August 27, 2015
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On August 26, a Kansas state court denied Secretary of State Kris Kobach’s request to dismiss an ACLU lawsuit concerning voter registration forms. See this story. After Kobach lost in federal court on whether he could force the federal government to change its voter registration forms used in Kansas, he had set up a dual registration system, in which voters who used the federal form could only vote for federal office, not state or local office.

The Kansas ACLU and some voters then sued, and Kobach asked the court to dismiss the case, but his motion was denied. Now there will either be a trial, or possibly the same judge will rule that the dual registration system violates Kansas law. When Kobach set up the dual registration system, there was no election law in place authorizing him to do that.

Maine Green Party Opens its Primaries to Independent Voters

Posted on by August 26, 2015
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The Maine Green Party (whose name is the Green Independent Party) has voted to allow independent voters to vote in its primaries, and they need not join the Green Party. See this story. The two major parties in Maine also let independent voters vote in their primaries, but only if they join those parties at the polls on primary election day.

Now that the party has taken this step, it will be in a strong position to argue that independent voters should also be able to sign petitions to get members of the Green Party on the party’s primary ballot. Maine and Massachusetts have the most draconian requirements for members of small qualified parties to get on their own party’s primary ballot. At least Massachusetts lets independents sign such petitions; Maine does not. The Maine Green Party has never been able to nominate any candidates for either house of Congress since it has been a ballot-qualified party, nor has it been able to nominate anyone for Governor in the last two gubernatorial election years.

Frontloading HQ Blog Discusses Odd Situation in North Carolina Legislature on Presidential Primary Date Change Bill

Posted on by August 26, 2015
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Frontloading HQ has this interesting blog post about the failure, so far, of the North Carolina House to vote on HB 373. This is the bill that moves the North Carolina presidential primary from February to March. If no such change is made, national party rules will penalize North Carolina by cutting back most of its delegates to the national convention.

U.S. Politics Blog Explains How Secret Service Decides Which Presidential Candidates Receive Protection

Posted on by August 26, 2015
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This interesting article at U.S. Politics blog explains the law on which presidential candidates get Secret Service protection. It is significant that the candidate must be seeking the nomination of a party that got at least 10% of the vote in the last election. That standard is lower than the current 15% standard used by the Commission on Presidential Debates.

The article says no non-incumbent presidential candidate in the 2012 election received protection until February 2012. By contrast, in the 2008 election, candidate Barack Obama first started receiving protection on May 3, 2007, according to this New York Times story.