Maine State Senator Dick Woodbury (I-Yarmouth) and Representative Janice Cooper (D-Yarmouth) have introduced a bill to use Instant-Runoff Voting for gubernatorial elections. See this detailed story. The bill proposes a change in the State Constitution.
The U.S. Supreme Court will soon be considering whether to hear Initiative & Referendum Institute v U.S. Postal Service, 12-722. The Court had set a deadline for the Postal Service to respond to the cert petition by January 14. However, the Postal Service has asked for, and received, an extension until February 13. This is the case against the postal regulation that prohibits anyone from signing a petition while standing on interior post office sidewalks. The petitioner may stand on the sidewalk, but if the passerby wants to sign, the two of them must leave the sidewalk and go elsewhere.
In other U.S. Supreme Court news, the Libertarian Party is asking the Court to hear its lawsuit over whether write-in votes for declared presidential candidates must be counted (Libertarian Party v D.C. Board of Elections, 12-836). The response of the Board of Elections is due February 7.
Under current federal law, corporations are not permitted to donate to the campaigns of candidates for federal office. A few years ago, William Danielczyk was prosecuted for breaking several federal campaign finance laws. One of the charges against him is that he allowed a corporation that he controls to make a contribution. He is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to strike down the federal law that makes it illegal for corporations to donate to federal campaigns. On December 9, the government filed this brief, asking the Court not to hear Danielczyk’s appeal.
The part on pages 17-18, comparing corporations to children, is somewhat amusing. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.
On January 10, the United States government sued the Illinois State Board of Elections over the state’s timing for the special U.S. House election to fill the vacant 2nd district seat. The seat is vacant because Jesse Jackson, Jr., was re-elected in November 2012 but then he resigned.
Federal law requires overseas absentee ballots to be mailed at least 45 days before any federal election or federal primary. The U.S. government charges that Illinois has not complied with this law in connection with the February 26 Democratic and Republican primaries, and the U.S. government also foresees that Illinois won’t be complying with the federal law in connection with the election either. Because candidates in the special primary must submit petitions, and then these petitions must go through the challenge process, Illinois can’t know who will be on the primary ballots until after the challenge process is complete. The challenge period can’t even start until the primary petitions are filed on January 14. Yet the 45-day deadline means that the ballots should have been mailed by January 12.
The case is United States of America v State of Illinois, U.S. District Court, northern district, 1:13cv-189. If the Illinois legislature had passed HB 2854 in 2011, it wouldn’t have this problem. HB 2854, by Representative Jim Watson, would have permitted candidates to get on the ballot by paying a fee instead of filing a petition. Thanks to Andy Finko for this news.
On November 6, 2012, Libertarian Party member John Inks was re-elected to the Mountain View, California, city council. And on the evening of January 8, the city council chose him as Mayor. See this story, which explains the traditional method by which Mountain View city councilmembers choose one of their own to be Mayor.
Mountain View has a population of 74,066, and is the headquarters city for Google, Intuit, Mozilla Foundation, and Symantec. Thanks to Independent Political Report for the news.
