On July 13, Rasmussen Polls released this poll, which shows that 48% of U.S. voters think U.S. elections aren’t fair. Only 39% think elections are fair, and 14% are undecided. Thanks to PoliticalWire for the link.
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On July 6, former U.S. Senator Alan Dixon (D-Illinois) died at 86. See this obituary. Senator Dixon was the most persistent advocate of federal legislation setting up regional presidential primaries. He introduced such bills in 1987 (S.1786), 1989 (S.377), and 1991 (S.288). The bills would have divided up the United States into presidential primary regions. Each state within a region would hold presidential primaries on the same date, between March and June. The dates for each region would alternate and be set in the year before a presidential election year.
Senator Dixon was defeated in the Democratic primary for re-nomination in 1992, and since then no member of Congress has energetically worked for the idea, although variants of bill have been introduced since then, most recently in 2007.
Unlike some plans, Senator Dixon’s bills did not give favored exemptions for any particular state, including New Hampshire.
On July 11, a Kansas state court ruled that the Secretary of State did not exceed his authority when he determined that voters who registered using the federal voter registration form can only vote on federal office, not state or county office. See this story. The Kansas Secretary of State does not like the federal voter registration form because, unlike the Kansas voter registration form, it allows people to sign under penalty of perjury that they are citizens, whereas the Kansas state form requires documentary proof of citizenship.
The Tenth Circuit is currently hearing a case over whether Kansas can force the federal government to amend the federal form when it is used in Kansas. Assuming Kansas loses the federal case, the Secretary of State is determined to implement a system in which voters who used the federal form cannot vote in state and local elections.
Oral argument is set for August 19, in Fleming v Gutierrez, in U.S. District Court in New Mexico. This is the case in which some Republican candidates and voters sued the county clerk of Sandoval County, New Mexico, for having so few places for voters in Rio Rancho to vote in November 2012. Some voters were forced to wait in line for four hours, or miss their chance to vote. Rio Rancho is a Republican stronghold.
The Courthouse News Service has this lengthy story about the Third Circuit decision in Constitution Party of Pennsylvania v Aichele which was released July 9.