Congressional Bill to Mandate Top-Two Primaries for Congress in All States

Posted on by June 5, 2015
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Congressman John Delaney (D-Maryland) has introduced HR 2655, to require top-two primaries for all congressional elections. The text of the bill is not up on the congressional web page, but Delaney’s press release says the text is the same as his HR 5334 from the last session of Congress. Here is the text of the 2014 bill.

In November 2014, Delaney had two ballot-listed opponents, Republican Dan Bongino and Green Party nominee George Gluck. Delaney received 94,704 votes; Bongino received 91,930; Gluck received 3,762. If Delaney’s bill had been in effect, Gluck could not have been on the ballot.

The bill has two co-sponsors so far: Jared Polis (D-Colorado) and Scott Peters (D-California). Thanks to Shawn Griffiths for this news.

Vermont Progressive Party Joins Lawsuit Filed by Its Candidate Dean Corren on Campaign Spending

Posted on by June 5, 2015
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The Vermont Progressive Party is joining its 2014 nominee for Lieutenant Governor, Dean Corren, concerning a campaign finance matter. The lawsuit, Corren v Sorrell was filed by Corren in U.S. District Court on March 20, 2015. Now the Progressive Party will be a co-plaintiff. Corren was told last year by the Attorney General that he broke campaign finance laws and is to be fined $72,000. The charge is that the Vermont Democratic Party sent an e-mail to its list of supporters, inviting them to a rally at which Bernie Sanders, Democratic Governor Peter Shumlin, and Corren, were speaking. The Vermont Attorney General says that was an illegal campaign contribution to Corren.

Corren accepted public funding last year. He is a member of the Progressive Party and he was the party’s nominee, but he was also the Democratic nominee. So far not much of substance has happened in Corren’s federal lawsuit, which seeks to block his fine.

North Carolina Legislature Passes Bill Eliminating Most Elections for Supreme Court Justice

Posted on by June 4, 2015
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On June 5, the North Carolina legislature passed HB 222, which (assuming it is signed by the Governor) will end most elections for Supreme Court Justice. The bill says that if a member of the State Supreme Court who has already been elected at least once desires to continue to serve another term, he can inform state officials in the year preceding the expiration of his or her term that he wants a retention election. Then, instead of facing an opponent, he or she would simply be listed on the ballot, with the voters permitted to vote “yes” or “no” on whether to retain that judge.

Here is the text of the bill. Justices who were appointed and never elected would not be eligible for retention elections. Under the current law, State Supreme Court justices run in non-partisan elections every time their term expires.

At the beginning of the 2015 session, there were proposals to convert State Supreme Court elections to partisan elections, but that idea did not pass.

IndependentVoting Asks FEC to Require General Election Presidential Debate Sponsors to Invite All Candidates who Could Theoretically be Elected

Posted on by June 4, 2015
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On June 3, Independentvoting.org and its attorney, Harry Kresky, asked the Federal Election Commission to issue a new rule about general election presidential debates. Like the earlier request by Level the Playing Field, the request for a new rule seeks to expand entry into those debates. However, the IndependentVoting request points out flaws in the proposal submitted some months ago by Level the Playing Field. Here is the IndependentVoting submission.