Last year, the Liberal government of Canada promised to form an Electoral Reform Commission, to decide how to alter the voting system. Under consideration are different types of proportional representation, and ranked choice voting.

Ironically, the various parties in Parliament are at odds over how many representatives each party should have on the Commission. The government proposes a 12-member committee, with 6 Liberals, 3 Conservatives, and one member each from the Bloc Quebecois, New Democratic, and Green Parties.

The New Democratic Party favors an eleven-member committee with 4 Liberals, 3 Conservatives, 2 New Democrats, and one each from the Bloc Quebecois and Green Parties. See this story.

On May 16, U.S. District Court Judge Lawrence Stengel held a hearing in Constitution Party v Aichele, e.d. 12-cv-2726. The purpose of this hearing was to decide exactly what rules apply this year for the minor party plaintiffs who already prevailed against the state’s policy of putting them at risk of paying up to $110,000 if their petitions are challenged.

The attorney for the Constitution, Green and Libertarian Parties argued that because the law has been held invalid, the relief should be that the parties are put on the ballot automatically. The state argued that the parties still need to submit petitions. If the state prevails, though, the state elections department will have the work of checking the signatures, since the challenge procedure is void. The Elections Department has never before tried to validate signatures itself and may have trouble doing that. The state elections office is already under-staffed.

A decision is expected soon.