Anouar Majid has this op-ed in the Portland Press Herald (Maine), saying that the United States would have better government if it had a multi-party system. Majid is the author of many books, and the founder of the Moroccan-American magazine Tingis, and the founder of the Center for Global Humanities. Thanks to the Independent Voters Network for the link.
Two different courts are currently putting North Carolina election laws into a state of uncertainty. On August 31, 2015, the North Carolina Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in Dickson v Rucho, over redistricting for both U.S. House and state legislature. The plaintiffs charge that too many black voters were packed into a limited number of districts, so as to reduce the influence of blacks in the state generally. In 2014, the North Carolina Supreme Court had upheld the districting plans. But on April 20, 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court had issued an order telling the State Supreme Court to rehear the case.
If the State Supreme Court rules that the current districts are unconstitutional, the legislature will be forced to draw new districts. The last time North Carolina had to redraw its districts in an election year (in 2004), the primary had to be postponed from May 4 to July 20, and the independent candidate petition deadline was moved (for 2004 only) from June 11 to July 6.
A U.S. District Court in Winston-Salem is currently hearing North Carolina State Conference of NAACP v McCrory. The trial began Monday, July 13. Thousands of people who support the plaintiffs rallied outside the federal courthouse that evening. The case challenges many aspects of HB 589, which passed the legislature in 2013. HB 589 eliminated the ability of provisional voters to vote inside their own county but in a different precinct. It eliminated the ability for unregistered voters to register to vote at the early voting centers. And it repealed pre-registration for 16-year-olds and 17-year-olds. The case is assigned to U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Schroeder, a Bush Jr. appointee. See this article about the trial in Governing Magazine.
Meanwhile, the legislature is in session, but it has not acted on any important election law bills. HB 92 would set up an independent redistricting commission. Even though over half the House members are co-sponsoring it, it is not expected to pass. HB 457, the bill to move the presidential primary from February 23 to March 8 has not made any headway in the State Senate (although it passed the House in April). HB 509, the ballot access bill, has not made any headway.
The Pennsylvania Ballot Access Coalition has a new web page. The chief activity of the Coalition this year is to help pass SB 495, the ballot access bill. The Pennsylvania legislature is now on summer recess.
Alexandra Shapiro, attorney for the debates lawsuit Level the Playing Field v Federal Election Commission, has this article in the Washington Times, explaining why the lawsuit was filed. The case was filed June 22. So far, the Federal Election Commission has not responded to the lawsuit, but it must do so later this month. The case is Level the Playing Field v FEC, U.S. District Court, Washington, D.C., 1:15cv-961.
The Maine Libertarian Party is attempting to qualify as a party. It will succeed if it has at least 5,000 registered members by December 1, 2015. The party now has approximately 1,000 registered members.
The only other time the Libertarian Party was a qualified party in Maine was during 1991 and 1992. It had 1,048 registered members just before the November 1992 election, but then it went off the ballot and all its registrants were converted to independents.
