Two candidates, each named Roy Brooks, have filed in the Tarrant County, Texas, Democratic primary to run against each other for the same County Commission seat. See this story. Thanks to TexasRedistrictingBlog for the link.
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On the evening of March 8, the Utah Senate passed HB 233 unanimously. The bill is now through the legislature. The bill says that if a party meets the 2% vote test, it is then on the ballot for the next two elections, not just the next election.
Minor parties generally poll enough votes in presidential years to remain ballot-qualified, because there are either four or five statewide offices on the ballot. But in midterm years, when only U.S. Senate is on the ballot, it is difficult for minor parties to meet the vote test. But under HB 233, there will generally be no need for a party to worry about the vote test in midterm years.
On March 7, an El Paso Church filed an expedited appeal with the Texas Supreme Court, in Tom Brown Ministries v Cook. The State Appeals Court had ruled that a recall petition is invalid, even though it had enough valid signatures, because a church did a great deal of the work organizing support for the recall and that church happens to be incorporated. Here is the 63-page brief filed by the church (the argument itself is only 18 pages, and then there are appendices attached).
On March 8, the Maine Senate passed LD 1774, which eliminates extra public funding for candidates for state office who have well-funded opponents who don’t take public funding. This step is necessary, because on June 27, 2011, the U.S. Supreme Court had ruled in Arizona Free Enterprise Club’s Freedom Club PAC v Bennett that public funding systems can’t give extra public funds to candidates based on characteristics of the people running against that candidate.
San Francisco also has public funding for candidates, and is in the process of conforming its system to that U.S. Supreme Court ruling as well.
Policymic has this essay by Daniel Kamerling, advocating approval voting. The article specifically says the contest for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination would be improved if presidential primaries used approval voting.
Policymic calls itself “an online news platform to engage millennials in debates about real issues.” The term “millennials” generally means people born after 1982, who were graduating from high school at the dawn of the current century. Thanks to Rosa Barker for the link.