Two Texas Bills to Modify Straight-Ticket Device Fail to Advance

Posted on by April 25, 2013
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Two Texas bills that would have minimized the straight-ticket device have failed to advance, and now it is too late for them to pass. HB 1037 would have put the device at the bottom of the ballot instead of the top. The author thinks it is good policy to have all voters at least look at all parts of the ballot, whether they use the device or not. He felt putting it at the bottom of the ballot would motivate people to look at the entire ballot in order to find it.

HB 1857 would have said that the device doesn’t apply to partisan county office elections. Opponents said it would be confusing to voters to have the device apply to some office but not all office. Thanks to Jim Riley for the news about these two bills.

Campaign Finance, Equal Time Rules, Clarified in Slate Article on Stephen Colbert’s TV Show in Relation to his Sister’s Congressional Campaign

Posted on by April 25, 2013
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Slate has this interesting article by Megan Wiegand, “Does Stephen Colbert’s Endorsement of His Sister Violate Election Laws?” The article is especially interesting for what it says about the virtually-defunct “Equal Time” law for broadcasts sent out over the airwaves. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.

Socialist Workers Party Wins an Extension of its Exemption from Disclosure through 2016

Posted on by April 25, 2013
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On April 25, the Federal Election Commission extended the exemption from campaign disclosure requirements for the Socialist Workers Party. The exemption was extended through December 31, 2016. See the finding here. The SWP has been exempt from reporting its federal campaign contributors, and its expenditures, since it won a case in the U.S. Supreme Court in 1982.

New York City Independence Party Wants Wilson-Pakula Law Repealed for Large Parties but Preserved for Small Parties

Posted on by April 25, 2013
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The New York City Independence Party has issued recommendations for election law changes in New York state. See them here. The party recommends that the Wilson-Pakula Law be repealed for large political parties such as the Democratic and Republican Parties, but preserved for smaller qualified parties. The Wilson-Pakula law gives party county chairs the power to decide whether a non-member of a party may run in that party’s primary.

The New York City Independent Party also wants non-partisan elections for city office, and says non-partisan elections would reduce corruption. The document does not acknowledge that an objective study of corruption among big cities in the U.S. recently determined that Chicago is the most corrupt large city in the United States, and that Chicago has non-partisan elections for all city office. Thanks to Mike Drucker for the link.

Thanks to Oyez Project, Anyone Can Hear Oral Argument in Most U.S. Supreme Cases of Past 60 Years

Posted on by April 25, 2013
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The Oyez Project, at www.oyez.org, has made it possible for anyone to listen to the oral argument in most U.S. Supreme Court cases of the past sixty years. Go to that web page. Choose “cases”. Then choose the decade the case was argued. Then choose the year it was argued. Then find the cases for that year, which are listed in alphabetical order. When one finds the case, one clicks on “oral argument” and then on “Download MP3.”

I just listened to the hour-long argument in Storer v Brown, a very important ballot access case argued in 1973. This resource is very useful for any historian or analyst of U.S. Supreme Court behavior. Although transcripts of these old oral arguments have long been available, listening to the argument is far more useful. The old transcripts don’t identify which justice said which statement, but veterans of the U.S. Supreme Court can know which justice spoke if they recognize that justice’s voice. Thanks to HowAppealing for the news about this resource.