Judge Scott Vowell is the Presiding Judge of the Jefferson County, Alabama, Circuit Court. Jefferson County is easily Alabama’s most populous county, and contains Birmingham. According to this story, Judge Vowell, who is newly-retired, recommends that voters no longer choose state court judges in partisan elections. But, he says if partisan election of judges is here to stay, then the legislature should at least repeal the straight-ticket device.
What will probably be the final lawsuit on whether President Obama meets the Constitutional Qualifications to be President has a conference date in the U.S. Supreme Court. The lead plaintiff is Ed Noonan, who won the American Independent Party non-binding presidential primary in California last year. Two other plaintiffs are individuals who ran in major party presidential primaries last year. The case is Noonan v Bowen, 12A606.
This case was filed in the California Supreme Court on December 4, and on December 6 that Court refused to hear it. In the California Supreme Court it was case S207078. The attorney who filed the case, Orly Taitz, then asked the U.S. Supreme Court for injunctive relief. She did that on December 11, and on December 13 Justice Anthony Kennedy denied it. Then, the case was refiled in front of Chief Justice John Roberts on December 26, and he has put it on the Court’s conference of February 15. Of course, that is almost a month after Inauguration Day.
On January 7, the Corvallis, Oregon city council met and selected Richard Hervey as the Council President. The City Council has 9 members, each elected from one of nine wards. The elections are non-partisan. Two members of the city council, Hervey, and Michael Beilstein, are registered members of the Green Party. In Oregon, the name of the Green Party is the Pacific Green Party. Thanks to Blair Bobier for this news.
Activists in Alabama, and in Tennessee, are each working for fairer ballot access by lobbying the state legislature. Here is the Tennessee group’s facebook page, and here is the Alabama group’s page. The Alabama lobbying is further along and probably a bill will be introduced in the next five days. The Tennessee group is starting to look for sponsors.
On January 9, Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell delivered his “State of the Commonwealth” speech, and asked the legislature to make restoration of voting rights automatic for ex-felons who have completed their sentence and had not been convicted of a violent crime. See this story. According to the story, The Sentencing Project says there are currently 451,471 ex-felons barred from voting in Virginia. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.
