On May 31, the California Assembly passed AB 1436 by a vote of 42-24. It makes it possible for individuals to register to vote on election day. If the bill becomes law, California will be the first large-population state to allow same-day registration. Thanks to Rob Richie for this news.
Kesha Rogers, a supporter of Lyndon LaRouche, appears to have won a narrow victory for the Texas U.S. House Democratic nomination in the 22nd district. The district is south of Houston. The vote is Rogers 3,659; K. P. George, 3,553. However, these are unofficial results, although all precincts have reported.
Rogers won the same nomination in 2010. In the 2010 Democratic primary she had two Democratic opponents, but she still got 52.3% of the Democratic vote in that primary. Here is a statement about her results at Executive Intelligence Review, a news source for the LaRouche movement.
The Federal Election Commission has approved Gary Johnson’s request for primary season matching funds. Independent Political Report has the story here. The only other presidential candidate who has received primary season matching funds this year is Buddy Roemer, but, as noted earlier, he is no longer seeking the presidency.
On May 31, U.S. District Court Judge Robert L. Hinkle granted injunctive relief to some organizations that wish to register voters in Florida. Here is the 27-page order. The case is League of Women Voters of Florida v Browning, 4:11cv628.
The laws that were enjoined were passed by the legislature in 2011. The first law that is enjoined is one that says groups that register voters must return all such completed forms to the elections office within 48 hours of the voter’s having signed the form.
The second law is one that requires groups to identify every person who works on a voter registration drive, even if the individual only hands out leaflets.
The third law enjoined is one that requires everyone who works on a voter registration drive to sign a sworn statement that he or she knows that anyone who submits a voter registration form that includes any false information is guilty of a felony. That law makes little sense, because people who help others fill out voter registration forms must submit all completed forms to elections officials, whether there is any misinformation on the form or not. Furthermore, a volunteer in a voter registration drive probably wouldn’t know if anything a voter wrote on a card is false or not.
A fourth law enjoined is one that requires voter registration groups to account for every blank form.
On May 31, Buddy Roemer said he is no longer a candidate for President. Even though Americans Elect had said on May 17 that it would not nominate anyone for President, Roemer had still been a candidate for the Reform Party nomination. The Reform Party is ballot-qualified in Florida, Kansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi.
Courtesy of Politico, here is Roemer’s withdrawal statement. He did not mention the Reform Party in his statement.
It is ironic that Roemer dropped out on May 31 and cited lack of ballot access. In 1924, Robert La Follette did not even declare as an independent presidential candidate until July 4, 1924, and he still got on the ballot in 47 of the 48 states. The lone state in which he did not qualify was Louisiana, where he would have needed 1,000 signatures by September of voters who were not registered as members of the Democratic or Republican Parties. That hurdle was too difficult for La Follette, because another Louisiana law made it too late for voters to switch parties, and there just weren’t enough registered independents in Louisiana to sign the petition. President Coolidge, known to be reluctant to speak out on almost any issues, did condemn the Louisiana ballot access law that year for excluding La Follette. But the fact in 1924 someone could still wait until July 4 to decide to run, and get on the ballot in all but one state, shows how much less free the United States is, compared to 1924.
