On April 16, the California Senate Judiciary Committee passed SB 213, which repeals residency requirements for petitioners. The bill had previously passed the Senate Elections Committee.
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On April 16, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo asked the state legislature to repeal the Wilson-Pakula law, which gives county political party leaders the power to decide whether to let non-member candidates run in party primaries. If that law were repealed, any candidate could run in any party’s primary ballot, or in the primary of several parties, no matter what the county chair of the party thinks.
Governor Cuomo also asked the legislature to ease the rigid time limits on voters who switch parties. He recommends that any voter be allowed to switch parties, and vote in the primary of the new party, if the change is done no later than three months before a primary. Even that change would leave New York with one of the most restrictive laws on that subject. See this story. Thanks to Joseph McNiesh for this news.
The four ballot-listed candidates for U.S. House, in Missouri’s 8th district, are invited to debate each other on May 28. See this story. The debate will be televised. The four candidates are the nominees of the Republican, Democratic, Libertarian, and Constitution Parties. The election is June 4. Thanks to Ken Bush for the link.
On April 11, the Constitution, Green, and Libertarian Parties of Pennsylvania filed an appeal in the 3rd circuit in Constitution Party of Pennsylvania v Aichele, 13-1952. The U.S. District Court had ruled that none of the parties has standing to challenge the unique Pennsylvania petition challenge system, and so no decision on the substance of the case has yet been released. If the 3rd circuit agrees with the political parties that they do have standing, it will remand the case back to the U.S. District Court for a decision on the merits.
In the meantime, a hard-working group of Pennsylvania volunteers from all the parties are working on an analysis of the 2012 statewide Constitution Party petition. The Constitution Party had withdrawn its statewide petition rather than face the prospect of court costs of as much as $110,000. The volunteers are checking each of the signatures to determine whether, in fact, the petition may have had enough valid signatures.
A large majority of California cities elect their city councilmembers at-large. However, the California Civil Rights Act has made it possible for cities with previously underrepresented ethnic and racial minorities to be sued by proponents of district elections. The Daily Transcript, San Diego’s legal newspaper, has this commentary decrying the Act. The commentary does not mention alternative solutions, such as cumulative voting, limited voting, or ranked-choice voting.