Scotusblog has this description of the brief filed in the U.S. Supreme Court by the state of Texas. The brief itself was filed “under seal”, which means that the public is not allowed to see the entire brief. Thanks to Thomas Jones for the link.
1
On October 15, a DMH Poll of Oregon candidates and ballot measures was released. See the full results here. For Measure 90, the top-two system initiative, the poll shows 36% in favor, 38% opposed, and 26% undecided. Scroll down to question seven. Thanks to Wes Wagner for the link, via TndependentPoliticalReport.
National Public Radio has this story about the New York election for U.S. House, 21st district, in the northern part of the state. It is unusual for any minor party nominee for a U.S. House race to get this much attention, but NPR focuses on Matt Funicello, the Green Party nominee. The incumbent, Congressman Bill Owens, a Democrat, is not running for re-election. In 2012, this district was one of the closest U.S. House races in the nation. The story says that Funicello is at 8% in the polls.
The conventional wisdom is that Funicello is injuring the Democratic nominee. But because Funicello is participating in the debates, another side to his impact on the race is the extent to which his views, as expressed before a large audience, might persuade undecided voters to vote for the Democrat, because two voices making the same point are sometimes more persuasive than a single voice; and on some issues, Funicello and the Democratic nominee agree, whereas the Republican nominee does not. The book “Predictably irrational” contains experimental evidence to bolster this conclusion.
A group of experienced observers of Congress here recommend several dozen ideas for helping make Congress more productive. Almost all of the recommendations are to alter certain congressional internal rules of procedure. But, recommendation XIX is that Congress exercise its Article One authority over congressional elections to set a nationwide primary day for congressional elections. The group recommends June but does not explain the rationale for choosing that month.
Currently, states set their own congressional primary dates, and they range from March to September. Louisiana has abolished congressional primaries and merely holds an election for Congress in November; all candidates from all parties appear on that ballot. If no one gets 50%, there is a runoff in December.
The authors of the recommendations include Alan Frumin, parliamentarian of the U.S. Senate; former Senator Tom Daschle of South Dakota, former Senator Trent Lott of Mississippi, former Congressman Bob Livingston of Louisiana, former Congressman Barney Frank of Massachusetts, and political analyst Lawrence O’Donnell, Jr. Thanks to the ElectionLawBlog for the link. The recommendations are published in Esquire magazine.
On October 16, KQED radio in San Francisco aired an hour-long forum on California’s top-two system and its effects on minor parties. Anyone can listen by using this link. The participants all contributed toward a very worthwhile program, although of course the four panelists disagreed with each other. It would be excellent if a similar forum could be broadcast in Oregon between now and election day.