The voters of Benton County, Oregon, will vote next month on whether to amend the county charter and provide for instant runoff elections for county office. Benton County has partisan elections for Sheriff and County Commissioner. The proposal would have no effect on partisan primaries for those offices, but would only apply to the general election. Here is a youtube ad in favor of the measure, which got on the ballot through the initiative process. Thanks to Blair Bobier for the link.
Here is the list of declared write-in presidential candidates in New York state. There are 32 of them.
According to this story, former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has said publicly he won’t vote for Donald Trump for President, even though Schwarzenegger has always before voted for the Republican nominee for President. Schwarzenegger doesn’t say who he will vote for.
This is ironic, because Schwarzenegger was one of the biggest backers of the California top-two system. The California top-two system has no effect on presidential elections in California or any other state. But if the California top-two system did control California presidential elections, then voters would be forced to vote for either Hillary Clinton, or Donald Trump, or else to skip voting entirely. Thanks to Carla Marinucci for the link.
New Mexico has closed primaries. On October 24, the New Mexico Supreme Court heard arguments in Crum v Duran, SISC 36030. The plaintiffs are independent voters who say the state constitution protects their right to vote in any partisan primary. The State Constitution says, “Article VIII, sec. 1. Every person who is a qualified elector pursuant to the constitution and laws of the United States and a citizen thereof shall be qualified to vote in all elections in New Mexico, subject to residency and registration requirements.”
The problem with using this part of the State Constitution is that primary elections technically aren’t elections. They are devices by which parties choose their nominees. No one who wins a partisan primary is thereby “elected”. According to this news story, the State Supreme Court didn’t seem very supportive of the lawsuit. But, there is no decision yet.
On October 24, U.S. District Court Judge Janet Neff, a Bush Jr. appointee, enjoined the Michigan law that makes it a crime for anyone to photograph his or her own voted ballot. The Michigan law is more severe than similar laws in other states. The mere act of snapping the picture is a crime, even if the photographer doesn’t show the picture to anyone else. Furthermore it is illegal in Michigan for anyone except institutional media to even use a cell phone inside a polling place.
The case is Crookston v Johnson, w.d., 1:16cv-1109. Here is the decision. The state argued that the injunction should not be granted because the lawsuit was filed too close to the election. It was filed September 9, 2016. The court did not agree that the case had been filed too late. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.
