On February 12, the California Peace & Freedom Party, the California Libertarian Party, and the Alameda County Green Party filed this request for a rehearing in Rubin v Padilla in the State Court of Appeals. This is the lawsuit over whether the top-two system injures voting rights of voters who want to vote for a minor party candidate in the general election.
On February 9, the Virginia Senate passed SB 742. Here is the text of the bill. It says that when no one gets as much as 50% in a general election for a statewide office, there shall be a run-off between the top two contenders. Oddly, the bill does not specify the date of such a run-off. The bill excepts presidential elections. The bill also says that if someone got 50% when all write-in votes are ignored, then no run-off is needed.
The vote was 22-16. All Republican Senators voted for the bill, along with one Democratic Senator. The bill now goes to the House of Delegates.
On February 11, the Oklahoma Senate Rules Committee passed SB 233. It moves the presidential primary from the first Tuesday in March to the fourth Tuesday of March. The Oklahoma presidential primary is separate from the primary for other office, and the date of the presidential primary does not affect any deadlines for newly-qualifying parties. Thanks to Josh Putnam for this news.
On February 12, the Michigan Senate unanimously passed SB 44, which moves the presidential primary from February to the third Tuesday in March, which would be March 15 in 2016.
According to this story, U.S. Senator Rand Paul has asked the Kentucky Republican State Committee to authorize a March 2016 caucus to choose delegates to the Republican national convention. If the party accepts this idea, then Paul won’t need to worry that his name can’t be on the May 2016 presidential primary, because that primary will become simply a “beauty contest” without power over the selection of delegates.
The party will decide on March 7. Paul can’t have his name on the May 2016 Kentucky presidential primary because he will also be running for re-election to the U.S. Senate.
