In 2010, the Republican Party of South Carolina filed a lawsuit in federal court, seeking to close its primary. The case will finally have a trial in August 2013. The case is Republican Party of South Carolina v State, 6:10cv-1407. The Republican Party will attempt to show that non-members of the party have been voting in its recent primaries.
Two Texas bills that would have minimized the straight-ticket device have failed to advance, and now it is too late for them to pass. HB 1037 would have put the device at the bottom of the ballot instead of the top. The author thinks it is good policy to have all voters at least look at all parts of the ballot, whether they use the device or not. He felt putting it at the bottom of the ballot would motivate people to look at the entire ballot in order to find it.
HB 1857 would have said that the device doesn’t apply to partisan county office elections. Opponents said it would be confusing to voters to have the device apply to some office but not all office. Thanks to Jim Riley for the news about these two bills.
Slate has this interesting article by Megan Wiegand, “Does Stephen Colbert’s Endorsement of His Sister Violate Election Laws?” The article is especially interesting for what it says about the virtually-defunct “Equal Time” law for broadcasts sent out over the airwaves. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.
On April 25, the Federal Election Commission extended the exemption from campaign disclosure requirements for the Socialist Workers Party. The exemption was extended through December 31, 2016. See the finding here. The SWP has been exempt from reporting its federal campaign contributors, and its expenditures, since it won a case in the U.S. Supreme Court in 1982.
The New York City Independence Party has issued recommendations for election law changes in New York state. See them here. The party recommends that the Wilson-Pakula Law be repealed for large political parties such as the Democratic and Republican Parties, but preserved for smaller qualified parties. The Wilson-Pakula law gives party county chairs the power to decide whether a non-member of a party may run in that party’s primary.
The New York City Independent Party also wants non-partisan elections for city office, and says non-partisan elections would reduce corruption. The document does not acknowledge that an objective study of corruption among big cities in the U.S. recently determined that Chicago is the most corrupt large city in the United States, and that Chicago has non-partisan elections for all city office. Thanks to Mike Drucker for the link.
