The Casper Star Tribune has this editorial, condemning state election laws that discriminate against minor party candidates.
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On July 9, True the Vote re-filed its lawsuit True the Vote v Hosemann in the southern district of Mississippi. Last week the organization had filed the same case in the northern district, but then the judge who received the case in the northern district hinted that the case should have been filed in the southern district, so True the Vote took the hint. The southern district contains Jackson, the state capital.
The issue in the case is whether federal law requires state officials and Republican Party officials to provide data about how many Mississippi voters voted in the Democratic primary on June 3, and then the Republican run-off primary for U.S. Senate on June 24. Voters are not supposed to do that. The plaintiffs hope to show that the run-off results should be overturned.
The case is now 3:14cv-532, and is assigned to Judge Henry T. Wingate, a Reagan appointee. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the news.
Scott Lay, editor of the well-read California politics blog Around the Capitol, here discusses this year’s race for the State Senate, 26th district. Scroll down to the third entry that is labelled “SD 26.” In June 2014, seven Democrats and one independent appeared on the ballot. Two Democrats came in first and second and will oppose each other in November.
Proponents of the top-two system say this is how their system operates at its best, because the more “moderate” of the two Democrats will win the votes of centrist independents and Republicans. But, Lay points out that if one of the two Democrats is then perceived as someone who is uninterested in the principles and interests of Democrats, the other Democrat will gain an advantage in the general election by pointing this out. A majority of the voters in the district are supportive of the Democratic Party. Lay also points out that it appears a very large proportion of the Republican voters in the June primary simply left the office blank.
One of the two Democrats who will be on the November ballot is Sandra Fluke, who became nationally famous (at least briefly) when Rush Limbaugh referred to her as a “slut” after she testified in Congress about health insurance and contraceptives.
This week, a U.S. District Court in North Carolina is conducting a trial in the cases filed by the NAACP and the League of Women Voters, over various election laws passed in North Carolina last year that make it more difficult for individuals to vote. See this story of the dramatic testimony of Tuesday, July 8. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.
On July 9, a Wall Street Journal/Channel 4 poll was released for the New York gubernatorial race. It shows Green Party nominee Howie Hawkins at 6%. See it here. If the actual results in November are even close to what the poll shows, the Green Party almost surely would then be granted the third line on the ballot in 2016 and 2018, ahead of the Conservative, Working Families, and Independence Parties. That would be the first time since 1936 in which a party that doesn’t cross-endorse Democratic and Republican Parties nominees enjoyed the third line on New York ballots. The Socialist Party lost the third line in November 1936, having had it since 1918. Thanks to Michael for the link.