National Popular Vote Organization Publishes New Edition of “Every Vote Equal”

The organization that is working for the National Popular Vote Plan for presidential elections has issued the fourth version of its “Bible”, i.e., its compilation of just about everything that one would want to know about the plan. The book is called “Every Vote Equal.” The newest version is 1,059 pages. The chief changes between the third edition and the fourth edition seem to be: (1) addition of an introduction by former Utah Republican U.S. Senator Jake Garn; (2) more emphasis on whether and how the statewide initiative process can be used to help pass the plan; (3) an interesting history of troublesome U.S. presidential elections of the past, including little-known details about the 1796 election; (4) new appendices, including the text of certain U.S. Supreme Court decisions involving interstate compacts, and additional presidential election returns for certain elections, including 2012.

The book will soon be available on Amazon for only $4.95.

Gary Johnson Talks About the 2012 Campaign at PolicyMic

PolicyMic has this interesting interview with Gary Johnson. It covers his policy ideas, but it also has a great deal about his experience being the Libertarian Party presidential nominee in 2012.

Toward the end, the part of the interview concerning the Electoral College is not fleshed out enough to be clear. The Electoral College system does discriminate against new parties and independent candidates, but only because the U.S. Constitution says if no one gets a majority of the Electoral College, the U.S. House chooses the President. However, a minor party or independent presidential candidate who manages to get a majority of the Electoral College vote is not disadvantaged by that Constitutional provision. In 1992, if Ross Perot had doubled his popular vote, and his increased popular votes had come equally from the ranks of Bush voters and Clinton voters, then Perot would have had a majority of the Electoral College and would have been elected.

South Carolina Republican Lawsuit Against Open Primary Has Hearing Over Evidence-Gathering Dispute

The Republican Party of South Carolina filed a lawsuit in 2010 against state laws that virtually force it to nominate using an open primary. The case has not yet had a decision in U.S. District Court. One reason for the delay is that the Republican Party has had trouble getting the evidence it needs from the state. The Republican Party hopes to show that various Democratic activists have been voting in Republican Party primaries, but the state has not furnished the data that would show this. Although voting is secret, the list of which primaries various voters choose to vote in is not secret.

There will be a hearing in the case on Wednesday, April 17, at 1:30 p.m., over the dispute about gathering the evidence. The Republican Party has a pending motion asking for sanctions against the state for not producing the requested evidence. The case is South Carolina Republican Party v State of South Carolina, 6:10cv-1407.