California Legislature Passes Bill Making it Illegal to Pay Registration Drive Workers on a Per-Registration Card Basis

Posted on by August 31, 2012
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On August 30, the California legislature passed AB 145, which makes it illegal for voter registration groups to pay workers on a per-registration card basis, “directly or indirectly.” The bill now goes to Governor Jerry Brown, who vetoed a similar bill last year.

There are even more reasons for Governor Brown to veto the bill this year than last year. A U.S. District Court in Texas this month said not letting registration organizations pay based on performance is likely unconstitutional. Ironically, the case was won by the Texas Democratic Party. Yet in California, Democrats supported AB 145 and Republicans opposed it.

The bill has no penalty for breaking the law. The author was forced to omit the penalty, because of procedural problems. All bills that create crimes must go through the Public Safety Committees, and due to legislative rules, it was impossible to get the bill through those committees.

Virginia State Board of Elections Says Libertarian Presidential Petition Has Enough Valid Signatures, but Virginia Republican Party Disputes That

Posted on by August 31, 2012
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On August 22, the Virginia State Board of Elections notified the Libertarian Party of Virginia in an e-mail that the party has enough valid signatures, statewide and in each district. Furthermore, two days later, the Libertarians turned in even more signatures.

However, on August 31, an attorney representing the Republican Party of Virginia notified the Board that the party believes the vast majority of the Libertarian petition signatures are invalid. Virginia has no procedure for any outside group to challenge a finding of elections officials that a petition is sufficient. If the Virginia Republican Party wishes to dispute the finding of the Board, it must sue the Board. The Libertarians had turned in approximately 16,000 signatures. The law requires 10,000, with 400 in each U.S. House district.

The State Board also said recently that Virgil Goode of the Constitution Party has enough valid signatures. The State Board apparently hasn’t told the Green Party yet whether or not it has enough valid signatures.

Ninth Circuit Will Hear “None of These Candidates” on September 14

Posted on by August 31, 2012
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On August 30, the Ninth Circuit set a hearing for 9 a.m., September 14, to hear Townley v Miller, 12-16881. This is the lawsuit over whether the Nevada version of “None of the Above” (specifically, “None of These Candidates”) should be on the November 2012 ballot.

September 20 is the date on which states must mail overseas absentee ballots, under federal law. Many states are claiming they must start printing ballots on September 7, but it seems clear that Nevada won’t be printing ballots until after the hearing on September 14. Also, three states don’t even hold their congressional primaries until September 11, so they won’t be printing ballots until the primary votes are counted. These facts should cause one to be skeptical of any state that says it must start printing ballots on September 7.

Al Gore Endorses National Popular Vote Plan

Posted on by August 31, 2012
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See this story, which reports that Al Gore now supports the National Popular Vote Plan bill. The article quotes Gore as saying that even after the 2000 presidential election was decided, he still supported the existing system. But, having thought about it and noticed that voters in most states feel their vote doesn’t really help determine the outcome, he has changed his mind.