Ever since 2023, the Colorado Republican Party has been suing to regain the ability of the party to hold primaries in which only party members vote. Colorado law says independent voters may vote in the primary of their choice. Colorado Republican Party v Griswold, 1:23cv-1948. On April 8, the party filed this brief, asking for summary judgment.
The write-in vote totals for presidential candidates who were on the ballot in at least one state, but who weren’t on in Rhode Island, from the November 2024 election, are: Peter Sonski 138; Cornel West 98; Siva Ayyadurai 12; Joseph Kishore 2; Randall Terry 2; Vermin Supreme 2.
Generally the Rhode Island election authorities release such results on their own, but months after the election. In this instance the election officials still have not released them. They were obtained by a Freedom of Information request by Desmond Silveira.
On April 10, the U.S. House passed HR 22 by a vote of 220-208. It makes it more difficult to register to vote, by requiring new applicants to submit documents that prove citizenship. Here is the Text.
A similar bill in the Senate, S128, has made no headway so far.
On April 15, Allison Riggs, the winner of the North Carolina November 2024 State Supreme Court judicial race (according to official election returns), appealed to the Fourth Circuit for a stay of the U.S. District Court order that permits further judgment of thousands of the ballots. Griffin v Riggs and North Carolina State Board of Elections, 25-1397 and 25-1398.
The issue is whether the State Supreme Court violated the U.S. Constitution last week when it invalidated some overseas and miliatry absentee ballots and put others under a legal cloud.
COFOE, the Coalition for Free & Open Elections, is now 40 years old. COFOE is a loose coalition of some of the nation’s nationally-organized minor parties, plus other organizations that support tolerant ballot access. The founding meeting to bring such an organization into existence was held February 9, 1985, at 113 University Place, New York. Representatives of the Citizens, Communist, Humanist, Libertarian, New Alliance, Populist, and Socialist Party attended, along with Art Eisenberg of the New York Civil Liberties Union.
The March 16 meeting, also held in New York, created the Statement of Principles.
The May 11 meeting, also held in New York, chose the name “Coalition for Free & Open Elections.”
Back then, before the internet and e-mail, and before cheap long distance phone rates, it was felt necessary for the group to meet monthly in person, and the various representatives were all individuals who lived in or near New York city.
COFOE still exists, and was the group that financed the lawsuit filed late last year to overturn the California top-two system. COFOE gets all its revenue from kind subscribers to Ballot Access News who send donations. COFOE thanks all of its donors.
