On July 26, a U.S. District Court in Alabama issued an order in USA v State of Alabama, middle district, 2:12cv-179, in which all sides to the lawsuit agree that Alabama will make partial use of ranked-choice ballots in the upcoming special congressional election. Overseas absentee voters will receive both a ranked-choice primary ballot and a ranked-choice general election ballot. The order has no effect on voters who are not overseas.

Everyone involved is assuming that there will be a run-off primary, because of the large number of primary candidates who have already announced. Use of ranked-choice voting is the only practical way to keep to the state’s schedule for this special election intact, because of the federal law that requires that ballots be sent to overseas absentee voters at least 45 days before the primary or election. There also seems to be an assumption that there is a reasonable chance that minor party and/or independent candidates will qualify for the general election. That is why the order includes provision for ranked-choice voting (for overseas voters) for the general election as well. Here is a link to the court order. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.

On May 1, 2013, five political scientists released a research paper, “A Primary Cause of Partisanship? Nominating systems and legislators.” The 26-page paper can be read here. After clicking on the link, click on the “Download this Paper” button. The paper describes the authors’ opinions about their findings. In other words, they speculate on why the theory that open primaries elect more moderate legislators turns out not to be true. The authors are Nolan McCarty, Eric McGhee, Seth Masket, Steven Rogers, and Boris Shor.

On July 30, a federal lawsuit was filed against Nebraska’s law that makes it illegal to pay circulators on a per-signature basis. Bernbeck v Gale, case number not assigned yet. The restriction applies to all kinds of petitions and was passed in 2008 over the Governor’s veto. Another part of the 2008 law, which made it illegal for out-of-state residents to circulate in Nebraska, has already been declared unconstitutional.

The new lawsuit also challenges the Nebraska law that requires initiatives to obtain the signatures of at least 5% of the voters in at least two-fifths of Nebraska’s counties. Nebraska has 93 counties and the overwhelming majority are in the center and western part of the state and have very low populations. Generally, county distribution requirements for all types of petitions have been held unconstitutional when they have been challenged.