Darth Jeff has this analysis in the June 1 Daily Kos, of the 2012 California top-two experience. His clear charts show the large difference between the electorate in June, and the electorate in November. Almost 2.5 times as many people voted in November as in June, and they weren’t demographically similar. Thanks to AroundtheCapitol for the link.
On June 2, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear Alabama Legislative Black Caucus v State, 13-895, and its companion case, Alabama Democratic Conference v Alabama, 13-1138. The issue is the 2011 redistricting carried out by the Alabama legislature, for state legislative districts. The lower 3-judge U.S. District Court had upheld the boundaries last year.
The plaintiffs argue that the legislature deliberately packed as many African-American voters into the majority African-American districts, so as to limit the number of districts in which such voters have power and influence. Here are the “questions presented” for each of the two cases. The U.S. Supreme Court wants to hear arguments on issue #2 from 13-895, and issue #1 from 13-1138.
If the state loses this lawsuit, there will probably be special legislative elections in 2015 or 2016. Normally Alabama only elects state legislators in midterm years, and none in presidential years. Thanks to Rick Hasen for this news and to Scotusblog for the links.
On May 22, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal signed HB 193. It removes the ban on any party calling itself the “Independent Party”, or using the word “Independent” as part of its name. An identical bill, SB 60, is also on its way to him, but the second bill seems redundant.
On Sunday, June 1, the second-to-last day of the Louisiana legislative session, the House passed the Senate version of HB 431, so the bill moving the presidential primary from mid-March to early-March has passed and been sent to the Governor. Assuming it is passed into law, it will not be the earliest presidential primary in Louisiana history. In 2008 the state voted on February 9. Thanks to FrontloadingHQ for this news.
The Atlanta Progressive News has this story about the pending Green Party-Constitution Party challenging Georgia’s ballot access procedures for non-major party presidential candidates.
