Hearing Set for Monday, October 29, in California Minor Party Lawsuit Against Top-Two Open Primary Law

Posted on by October 27, 2012
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A Superior Court Judge in Alameda County, California, will hear Rubin v Bowen on Monday, October 29, at 9 a.m, in Oakland, 1221 Oak Street, Dept. 16. This is the lawsuit filed by the California Peace & Freedom Party, the California Libertarian Party, and the Green Party of Alameda County. This is the only lawsuit ever filed against any top-two system in which the chief issue is the voting rights of voters who wish to vote for minor party candidates in the election itself.

While it is true the Washington state Libertarian Party raised that issue in the federal case from Washington state, the voting rights issue was completely omitted from the oral argument in the 9th circuit. The only attorney who argued against the Washington state top-two case law in the 9th circuit devoted all his time (in the oral argument) to the freedom of association issue. The 9th circuit decision made little mention of the voting rights issue except to assert falsely that the U.S. Supreme Court had already disposed of that issue in 2000. The 9th circuit is obviously wrong about that, because Justice Scalia wrote the 2000 decision, and yet he dissented in the 2008 decision. What Scalia approved of in his decision in 2000 is obviously not the existing Washington state system.

The California lawsuit Field v Bowen did not concern the issue of a limited range of choices on the November ballot.

No tentative opinion in Rubin v Bowen has been issued yet.

Ballot Access News October 2012 Print Edition

Posted on by October 27, 2012
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Ballot Access News
October 1, 2012 – Volume 28, Number 5

This issue was printed on white paper.

Table of Contents

  1. EIGHT WINS, FIVE LOSSES, IN BALLOT ACCESS FIGHTS
  2. SOME BALLOT CHALLENGERS GAVE UP
  3. LAWSUITS OTHER THAN BALLOT ACCESS
  4. U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES CANDIDATES ON THE BALLOT
  5. 2012 BALLOT STATUS FOR PRESIDENT
  6. PRESIDENTIAL CONVENTIONS
  7. SOUTH CAROLINA LEGISLATIVE RACE WITH NO MAJOR PARTY NOMINEES
  8. RECORD NUMBER OF PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES ON BALLOT
  9. SUBSCRIBING TO BAN WITH PAYPAL

U.S. Military Contacts Election Administrators Across the Nation, Asks that Any Foreign Absentee Ballots Sent to Zip Code 09382 be Replaced

Posted on by October 27, 2012
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On October 19, a U.S. Air Force transport plane crashed as it was trying to land at Shindad Air Base in Afghanistan. Aboard was 4,700 pounds of mail meant for U.S. troops. The military has contacted every election administration office in the U.S. and explained that any absentee overseas ballot sent recently to zip code 09382 should be replaced. See this story. Zip code 09382 is one of the U.S. military zip codes, sent to state “AE” (Armed Forces Africa Canada Europe).

Mail absentee ballots always require that the voter sign the outer return envelope, which will protect against any duplicate ballots being voted on by any particular voter. Thanks to Bill Van Allen for the link.

Al Jazeera-English Runs 25 Minute TV Segment on Commission on Presidential Debates

Posted on by October 27, 2012
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On October 20, Al Jazeera-English TV ran a 25-minute segment about the Commission on Presidential Debates. See it at this link. Especially notable is the interview with George Farah, who mentions details about the Commission that are not generally known. The segment also contains a fairly lengthy interview with Jill Stein.

In 1990, the United States signed the Document of the Copenhagen Meeting of the Conference on the Human Dimension of the CSCE. Among other things, the U.S. promised to “provide that no legal or administrative obstacle stands in the way of unimpeded access to the media on a non-discriminatory basis for all political groupings and individuals wishing to participate in the electoral process.” United States laws prop up the Commission on Presidential Debates, which are sponsored for the most part by profit-making corporations. The expenses are tax-deductible, meaning that the U.S. government is indirectly subsidizing the Commission. People in the world outside of the United States are interested in comparing U.S. rhetoric with U.S. reality.