Fairfax, California, a small city in Marin County, is believed to be the only city in the United States in which a majority of members of the city’s governing body are members of the Green Party. Fairfax, like all cities in California, uses non-partisan elections. Fairfax has a city council of five members. Recently one of the Greens resigned from the city council, so the remaining Greens, still in the majority, replaced him with a new member who is also a registered Green. See this story on the California Green Party’s web page. Thanks to Michael for the link.

On April 16, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo asked the state legislature to repeal the Wilson-Pakula law, which gives county political party leaders the power to decide whether to let non-member candidates run in party primaries. If that law were repealed, any candidate could run in any party’s primary ballot, or in the primary of several parties, no matter what the county chair of the party thinks.

Governor Cuomo also asked the legislature to ease the rigid time limits on voters who switch parties. He recommends that any voter be allowed to switch parties, and vote in the primary of the new party, if the change is done no later than three months before a primary. Even that change would leave New York with one of the most restrictive laws on that subject. See this story. Thanks to Joseph McNiesh for this news.