CATO Institute is the leading think-tank for libertarians, but its leadership strongly supports the Republican Party. Here is an opinion piece on the electoral college by Robert Levy, chair of the CATO Board of Directors. Levy seems to say he is strongly opposed to any electoral college system that would give minor party or independent presidential candidates any electoral votes. He says Ross Perot in 1992 might have won some electoral votes if each U.S. House district chose its own presidential elector, and that this would have been undesirable. Levy is also opposed to the National Popular Vote Plan, so he is stuck with preferring the status quo. Thanks to Jon Roland for the link.

Joe Mathews has this column in Fox and Hounds, a political blog in California. He rebuts the idea that most voters vote for the person, not the party. He also suggests an alternative voting system.

On March 20, the California Secretary of State asked the Ninth Circuit to reconsider whether the Libertarian Party has standing to challenge the California residency requirements for petitioners. The case is Libertarian Party of Los Angeles County v Bowen, 11-55316. Here is the state’s 23-page brief. On March 6, a 3-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit had ruled that the party does have standing to challenge the residency requirement, and had sent the case back to the U.S. District Court to decide the issue.