On May 31, ten Michigan Representatives introduced HB 5709. It would alter the order of offices on general election ballots. First would come all ballot measures, followed by partisan offices. Township offices would appear first, then state offices, then Congress, then President. Michigan will not be using a straight-ticket device in 2016, for the first time in a century or more. The bill’s sponsors are afraid that without their bill, many voters will only vote for the most important offices, and skip the lesser offices. Here is the text of the bill.

On June 8, Scott Wooden changed his registration from “Republican” to “Libertarian”. He was elected to the Del Mar Union School Board in 2014, to a four-year term. The Del Mar School District runs the eight public schools in the city of Del Mar and the adjoining portion of San Diego known as Carmel Valley. Thanks to Ted Brown for this news. Wooden also sent a contribution to the national Libertarian Party. He has a PhD in biochemistry.

U.S. District Court Judge Waverly D. Crenshaw, Jr., will hold a trial in Green Party of Tennessee v Hargett on July 12-13 in Nashville. The issue is the state’s ballot access law for newly qualifying parties, which requires 33,816 valid signatures, even though the state only requires 25 signatures for an independent candidate (or 275 for an independent presidential candidate). A second issue is the state’s failure to have any administative procedure for a group to contest a filing that it failed to have enough valid signatures.

This case was filed in 2011 and is the oldest pending constitutional ballot access case in the nation. The plaintiffs are the Green and Constitution Parties. The Libertarian Party may intervene.