As previously reported, on May 29, the Fourth Circuit struck down Virginia’s law banning out-of-state circulators. The 14 days for the state to possibly have asked for a rehearing en banc has now elapsed, and the state did not ask for reconsideration. The case was Libertarian Party of Virginia v Judd. Of course it is always possible the state will ask the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse the decision. The time limit for that is three months.
The Arizona Republic has finally mentioned that the omnibus election law bill, HB 2305, contains a provision inserted at the last minute that makes it far more difficult for minor party members to get on their own party’s primary ballot. Although the bill has received a great deal of publicity over the last few weeks, this is the first mainstream media article that mentions that problem with the bill.
The bill is on Governor Jan Brewer’s desk. Activists are hoping for a veto.
On June 18, the U.S. House passed HR1797 by 228-196. The bill bans abortions after twenty weeks. It allows exceptions for rape and incest, but only if the rape or incest had already been reported to police. The bill passed on a virtual party line vote. Republicans voted for the bill 222-6, and Democrats voted against it 190-6.
The six Republicans who voted against the bill included two Republicans who said they voted against the bill because it has an exception for rape or incest. The four Republicans who voted against the bill because they are opposed to further restriction of abortion are all from states that have closed or semi-closed primaries: Charles Dent of Pennsylvania (a closed primary state); Richard Hanna of New York (a closed primary state); and Rodney Freylinghuysen and Jon Runyan, both of New Jersey (a semi-closed primary state).
Proponents of top-two primaries constantly preach that a top-two system produces more moderate legislators, but the June 18 vote is another fragment of evidence that they are wrong. Political science research generally finds no correlation between partisanship and type of primary.
On June 18, California AB 1419 passed the Senate Elections Committee unanimously. It moves the deadline for a group to qualify as a political party from January to July, in presidential election years. It has already passed the Assembly.
On June 18, the Michigan State Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 that Mike Duggan, a leading candidate for Mayor of Detroit, can’t be on the ballot. The lower court had come to the same conclusion. He will appeal to the State Supreme Court. The law says a candidate must have been registered to vote for a year before filing his petition to be on the ballot. Duggan could easily have complied if he had waited to hand in his petition until the deadline. Unfortunately for him, he submitted the petition before the year was up. See this story. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.
