County Recorder of Deeds is a partisan elected office in Delaware. At the November 2014 election, Kent County held an election for this office, which resulted in a tie vote. There have been four recounts. See this story. According to Delaware law, the Governor will now appoint someone to the position.
Kent County is the least populated of Delaware’s three counties, and contains the state capital, Dover. Thanks to Electionline for the link.
On December 30, U.S. District Court Judge Paul J. Barbadoro, a Bush Sr. appointee, declined to dismiss the lawsuit Libertarian Party of New Hampshire v Gardner, 1:14cv-322. The case was filed in July 2014 and challenges the new law that made it illegal for the party petition to circulate during an odd year. The state tried to persuade the judge that the new law is constitutional as a matter of law, and that there shouldn’t be a trial or any evidence-gathering. But the court ruled that the case needs more facts before it can be decided. Here is the 13-page ruling.
On December 29, the Tenth Circuit denied a request for rehearing that had been filed by Kansas and Arizona, in Kobach v U.S. Election Assistance Commission. Those two states had lost earlier this month, and had asked the court for rehearing, but it was denied. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the news.
According to this story, Michael Grimm, who was just re-elected to Congress from New York city last month, will resign this week. He is the only Republican member of the U.S. House from New York city. A special election will be needed.
On December 17, the New Jersey voters who believe that New Jersey’s primaries violate the U.S. Constitution filed this reply brief. The case is Balsam v Secretary of State of New Jersey, 14-3882, now pending in the Third Circuit. New Jersey has registration by party, and does not let voters voter in a partisan primary unless the voter is a member of the party. However, independent voters are free on primary day to join a party, and then free to disaffiliate immediately after voting in that party’s primary. Some of the plaintiffs are independent voters. Other plaintiffs are registered Republicans and registered Democrats who say that they dislike being registered into their party, and they only register so they can vote in a party primary.
The last page of the brief asserts, “Primary Results Effectively Control the Choice in General Election”. The truth of this sentence is not self-evident, but its truth could perhaps be established with the introduction of evidence. However, this particular case lacks very much evidence. The U.S. District Court dismissed the case before giving the plaintiffs a chance to submit much evidence. It would be interesting to see a trial in this case. That trial could bring out all the methods by which New Jersey makes it virtually impossible for anyone other than a Democrat or a Republican to ever win a partisan election. New Jersey does this by giving the Democratic and Republican Parties their own party column on the ballot, and by forcing every other candidate to run in a column on the side of the ballot labeled “Nomination by Petition.” In 2003, an incumbent New Jersey Assemblyman, Matt Ahearn, changed from the Democratic Party to the Green Party. He then ran for re-election in November 2003 as the Green Party nominee. But the Bergen County ballot put him in a remote corner of the ballot under the heading “Nomination by Petition”, and as a result he only got 10.8% of the vote. He had been a well-regarded member of the legislature and if New Jersey had fair ballot formats, he would have had a chance of being re-elected, and he certainly would have got a far larger share of the vote.
The brief’s assertion that the U.S. Supreme Court upheld Washington state’s top-two system is not the whole truth. The 2008 decision Washington State Republican Party v Washington State Grange said the decision was not deciding the ballot access issue (see footnote eleven). And the decision didn’t even determine conclusively that the system doesn’t violate Freedom of Association; it just said the system doesn’t violate Freedom of Association on its face.
