On February 23, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear Clayton v Niska, 14-443. The plaintiff had challenged a Minnesota law that says, “A candidate may not knowingly make a false claim stating or implying that a candidate or ballot question has the support or endorsement of a major political party or party unit or of an organization.” A Minnesota State Appeals Court had upheld the law, and the Minnesota Supreme Court had refused to hear an appeal.

The plaintiff, Bonn Clayton, had been fined $500 because his website implied that the Minnesota Republican PArty had endorsed a particular candidate for judge, when actually the party had decided not to make any endorsements. Here is a copy of Clayton’s cert petition, giving his side of the dispute.

Mississippi State Senator Chris McDaniel introduced SB 2613 last month, but because it failed to advance, it is now dead. It would have provided that voter registration cards ask voters to choose a party, or independent status.

McDaniel ran in the Republican primary last year for U.S. Senate. He narrowly lost the runoff primary to incumbent Republican Senator Thad Cochran. McDaniel challenged the results in court, arguing that many people who voted in the Republican runoff primary were Democrats who had voted in the Democratic primary a few weeks earlier. However, he was unable to prove that there were enough such voters to have changed the outcome.

On January 21, 2015, Congressman Mark Pocan (D-Wisconsin) re-introduced the proposed Constitutional amendment establishing a right to vote. It is HJR 25 and it now has 24 co-sponsors. Pocan is in his second term. His district is centered on Madison. The Democratic National Committee endorsed the bill on February 21.

The proposed amendment is very short. It says, “Section 1. Every citizen of the United States, who is of legal voting age, shall have the fundamental right to vote in any public election held in the jurisdiction in which the citizen resides. Section 2. Congress shall have the power to enforce and implement this article by appropriate legislation.”

If this amendment were to be enacted, it would permit imprisoned felons to vote. But it would do nothing to help residents of the District of Columbia, or the U.S. overseas possessions, obtain voting representation in Congress or in the electoral college. The amendment arguably would require that independent voters be allowed to vote in any partisan primary of their choosing. Already, independent voters can vote in some or all partisan primaries in a majority of states, but they can’t vote in any partisan primaries (unless they join a party) in these fifteen jurisdictions: Connecticut, Delaware, D.C., Florida, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Wyoming. Thanks to Thomas Jones for the information about Congressman Pocan’s introduction of the Resolution.