On January 8, U.S. District Court Judge Brian Morris refused to enjoin a Montana law that allows any registered voter to help choose Republican Party officers in the primary. Ravalli County Republican Central Committee v McCulloch, cv14-58. Montana does not have registration by party. The order says there is yet no evidence that any voters who don’t consider themselves Republicans are voting in elections for party officers. Thus, the case will need a trial.
Political scientists Nicholas O. Stephanopoulos, Eric M. McGhee, and Steven Rogers, have posted “The Realities of Electoral Reform” at this link. Click on the “download” button. The study uses data on voter preferences by legislative and congressional district to determine whether various kinds of election laws improve or worsen the fit between public opinion in a district and the behavior of that district’s representatives. The assumption is that it is desirable that the voting behavior of state legislators and members of Congress ought to match public opinion in his or her district or state.
Page 38 of the study presents the data for various kinds of primary system. The data shows that there is a better fit between public opinion in a district, and the representative chosen by that district, in closed primary states than in open primary and top-two primary states. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.
According to this story, British Prime Minister David Cameron says he won’t debate in April 2015 (in advance of the Parliamentary election of May 2015) unless the Green Party leader is included in the first debate. That would mean five candidates instead of four in the first debate. Thanks to Thomas Jones for the link.
Here is a link to the Chicago Board of Elections web page, showing candidates in the non-partisan February 24 election. For Mayor, five candidates are on the ballot: incumbent Rahm Emanuel, Willie Wilson,Robert Fioretti, Jesus Garcia, and William Walls.
For Treasurer and City Clerk, only one candidate is on the ballot.
According to this story, the Republican national convention is likely to be July 18-21, 2016. This is a drastic change from the 2012 convention, which was the August 28-30. The 2016 date will be known for sure later this month. The consequences of the date will resonate for election law, but it is difficult to know the full consequences until the Democratic Party chooses its 2016 convention dates.
