Mary Matalin, interviewed on television on May 5, mentioned that she had changed her voter registration from Republican to Libertarian that very day. She lives in Louisiana, a state with partisan registration. See the entire short interview here. She was careful to say that she still may vote Republican in November, but that she wanted to make a public statement of her libertarian views and a statement that she is not a knee-jerk Republican partisan. Thanks to Eric Garris for the link.
On May 5, Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin signed SB 896. This bill lowers the number of votes for a party to remain on the ballot, from 10% for the office at the top of the ballot (President or Governor) to 2.5%. Although this is still more stringent than the median state, it is the lowest percentage of the vote that Oklahoma has required since 1913. The vote test between 1913 and 1974 was 5% at either of the last two elections; then it went to 10% at the last election.
This bill probably would not have been introduced, if the Libertarian Party had not got on the ballot this year. No other party qualified this year. It is likely that the legislature would not have been interested in lowering the vote test, if there had been no clear beneficiary for such a change. Thanks to E. Zachery Knight for this news.
On May 4, the Louisiana House defeated HB 598. It would have allowed ex-felons to register to vote when they are released from prison. Current law says they can’t register to vote until they are not only out of prison, but off parole or probation. See this story. The story says Louisiana has a greater percentage of its population incarcerated than any other state. Thanks to Electionline for the link.
On May 4, U.S. District Court Judge William B. Shubb, a Bush Sr. appointee, upheld the action of the California Secretary of State relative to the Independent Party. The Secretary of State has refused to tally the number of voters registered in the Independent Party, on the grounds that no matter what the tally might show, such a party would be illegal. The reason is that voters would be confused if a party named the Independent Party were allowed to exist.
The decision does not mention the evidence presented in the case that eleven other states have had Independent Parties on the ballot in recent years, except to say that this evidence will be excluded.
The Secretary of State presented no evidence that confusion would exist if the Independent Party were allowed to exist. The decision seems to acknowledge that there is no clear evidence that confusion would result, because it says voters “might” be confused. Judge Shubb said “the court cannot conceive” of any facts that would cause him to change his mind, so he dismissed the case. Thanks to Markham Robinson for the link.
On April 28, the Ninth Circuit cancelled the May 4 scheduled oral argument in Ravalli County Republican Central Committee v McCulloch. This is the lawsuit filed by ten Montana county Republican parties against the open primary, as applied to the Republican Party. It seems likely this case will be held in abeyance until the Hawaii Democratic Party case is decided.
