On January 13, the New York Assembly passed A8198, which moves primaries (other than presidential primaries) from September to June. The vote was 126-11. The Assembly has passed similar legislation in the past, but such bills always stall in the State Senate. Senators tend to prefer an August primary.
On January 16, the Massachusetts Senate passed HB 3788, which establishes early voting and election-day registration. See this story.
On January 20, a subcommittee of the Virginia House Privileges and Elections Committee passed HB 645. This is the bill to provide for party labels on the general election ballot, for partisan county offices. The vote was 4-3.
The U.S. Court of Appeals, D.C. Circuit, hears Common Cause v Biden, 12-5412, on January 21. The lawsuit, filed by Common Cause, five U.S. House members, and others, argues that U.S. Senate Rule XXII (the “cloture rule”, also called the “filibuster rule”) is unconstitutional. Alternatively, the lawsuit argues that it is unconstitutional for each new session of the Senate to assume that rules from the previous session automatically remain in place. Here is the Common Cause brief.
The U.S. District Court had ruled on December 21, 2012, that the plaintiffs lack standing.
Tennessee’s State Constitution says that state court judges should be chosen by popular vote, but the state has not been holding such elections in recent years, and depends on appointing judges. This article describes John Jay Hooker’s attempts to win a ruling in state court that the state constitution should be followed. The article also explains that defenders of judicial appointment are hoping to win a popular vote in November 2014 to change the state constitutional provisions on judicial selection.
Independent of that, and not mentioned in the article above, a federal court will hear a case on January 30, filed by Herbert Moncier, who wants to run for a judicial position. That case is Moncier v Haslam, eastern district, 3:13cv-630. Here is an article about the federal case.
