On April 10, the Greenville County Republican Party filed its reply brief in Greenville County Republican Party Executive Committee v Way, 13-2170, in the Fourth Circuit. The U.S. District Court had ruled that the county Republican Party doesn’t have standing to challenge South Carolina laws that require parties to nominate by open primary or by convention.

The party’s brief explains that the county party must nominate by open primary, and cannot nominate by convention, when it nominates for partisan city office. The brief also explains that because state law requires county parties to pay for the administration of their own primaries for municipal office, the county party is suffering constitutional injuries, aside from any issue related to primaries for federal and state office.

The party’s brief also says that the state Republican Party, even though it withdrew from the lawsuit, passed a resolution on June 14, 2013, affirming its support for the county party’s legal position. The party’s brief also documents that the state Republican Party platform supports the lawsuit.

The next step will be for the Fourth Circuit to set an oral argument date.

The Iowa Constitution says that persons convicted of “infamous crimes” may not register to vote. On April 15, the Iowa Supreme Court issued an opinion in Chiodo v The Section 43.24 Panel, 14-0553. The issue was whether an individual who had been convicted of an aggrevated misdemeanor should lose the right to register. Specifically, the voter in question (who is also a candidate for the state legislature this year) had been convicted twice in his life of drunk driving.

The plurality opinion, signed by 3 justices, says that “infamous crime” means something more serious than a felony. A concurrence signed by two justices says “infamous crime” and “felony” mean the same thing. The concurrence argues that the plurality opinion is so vague, that there will be an explosion of new litigation over whether other persons convicted of felonies may now register to vote.

One justice would have ruled that “infamous crime” means any crime for which the punishment includes incarceration in prison (as opposed to jail). One justice did not participate. Here is a link to the opinion.

The Los Angeles Times of April 15 has a story, “Top-two primary might be bad for small-party candidates.” It has a picture of Cindy Sheehan, a member of the Peace & Freedom Party who is running for Governor of California this year. The link may work for readers, or it might result in the reader being told to become a subscriber in order to gain access to the article. Try this link. The story does not mention any information about how top-two has worked in Washington state.

The story is noteworthy because it quotes an advisor to former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger as saying, “Obviously, the need for third parties, smaller parties, to remain active participants is important; and as we implement this system, the need to make appropriate adjustments will become apparent as the system unfolds.” This is the very time when Governor Schwarzenegger or anyone associated with him has even acknowledged the existence of minor parties.