Dan Cantor, head of the New York Working Families Party, has this letter in the October 10 New York Times. Cantor defends fusion, the practice of letting two parties jointly nominate the same candidate.
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On October 9, a Field Poll was released for the U.S. Senate race in California. The results are here. The two strongest Democratic candidates are at 30% and 17%. The strongest Republican is at 9%. If these results persist, it is likely that if the California election system is not changed, in November 2016 California voters will only have two Democrats on the ballot, with no write-in space. The two Democrats, Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez and Attorney General Kamala Harris, do not fundamentally disagree with each other on the issues. Thanks to AroundtheCapitol for the link.
On October 9, a Florida state trial court released an opinion that recommends new U.S. House districts. The plan won’t be final until the Florida Supreme Court reviews the plan. See this story, which has a map. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.
Lee Prince has set out to interview and record interviews with everyone who is running for President and who has a website. He has already done 48 interviews and the number grows daily. Here is a list of the candidates interviewed, with links to those interviews.
The U.S. Supreme Court will hold oral arguments on December 8, Tuesday, in two redistricting cases. One is Harris v Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission, 14-232. Arizona Republicans filed this lawsuit to overturn the 2011 state legislative redistricting plan. The party argues that the plan violates one-person, one-vote by creating districts with two many voters in Republican areas, and two few voters in Democratic areas. The party also argues that the Commission handled ethnic minorities improperly. The lower court had upheld the plan.
The other case being heard on December 8 is Evenwel v Abbott, 14-940. Some Texas voters filed this case, arguing that legislative and U.S. House districts should have equal numbers of eligible voters, not equal populations. Texas, like almost all states, uses population. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the news about Evenwel.