Famous Attorney Theodore Olson Will Represent American Samoans in U.S. Supreme Court

Posted on by December 16, 2015
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Theodore Olson has become the attorney for a group of plaintiffs who were born in America Samoa, and thus are not citizens unless they go through the naturalization process. The case has already lost in the U.S. Court of Appeals for D.C. Olson joined the case and has won permission from the U.S. Supreme Court to file the cert petition by February 1, 2016 (otherwise, the cert petition would have been due January 2, 2016).

The Samoans include residents of the various states. They cannot vote, unless they use the naturalization process. See this story. Persons born in other territories are citizens because Congress passed laws long ago making them citizens, but Congress has never done that for American Samoans. The plaintiffs argue that the 14th amendment makes them citizens automatically. The 14th amendment says, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.”

Olson represented George W. Bush in Bush v Gore in 2000. See this story. The case is Tuaua v U.S.

Congressional Budget Bill Doesn’t Have Any Changes to Presidential Public Funding

Posted on by December 16, 2015
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Late in the evening on December 15, congressional leaders from both major parties released the text of the omnibus budget bill. It doesn’t change any laws relating to public funding for presidential candidates. Some members of Congress had been working for a provision that would have ended primary season matching funds and used the money instead to pay for major party presidential conventions. Thanks to the Center for Competitive Politics for this news.

UPDATE: the bill does not relax any existing limits on how political parties spend their money, but it does change some policies on disclosure. See this report from Rick Hasen’s ElectionLawBlog.

New York State Board of Elections Might Buy Vote-Counting System that would Hugely Improve Ballot Format

Posted on by December 15, 2015
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On December 15, the New York State Board of Elections held a meeting, and discussed the possibility of setting up a pilot project to use “Expressvote” vote-counting machines.

New York and New Jersey currently have the nation’s worst ballot format. New York, and almost all counties in New Jersey, design their general election ballots so the major party nominees are easy to find, but many minor party and independent candidates are put in far corners of the ballot, so they aren’t even visible for someone who doesn’t look carefully. But if New York switched to Expressvote, that problem would be solved.

This link shows what the ballot looks like in jurisdictions that use Expressvote. Thanks to Mike Drucker for this news.

Some Members of Congress Want to Eliminate Primary Season Matching Funds and Use the Money to Pay for Major Party Conventions

Posted on by December 15, 2015
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According to this Democracy 21 press release, some members of Congress are working to change the public funding system for presidential elections. Apparently primary season matching funds would be abolished, and the money would be used to pay for the major party presidential conventions. This idea might appeal to Democrats, because the Democratic National Committee is low in funds that are needed to pay for costs of the 2016 Philadelphia convention.

The only minor party or independent presidential candidate who is currently seeking to qualify for primary season matching funds is Jill Stein. She must raise $5,000 in small donations from each of 20 states. She recently crossed the threshold in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, so is up to eleven or twelve states now.

The change in the law would be brought about by inserting provisions into the omnibus spending bill, which is expected to pass by the end of the year.