Rachel Maddow’s TV show on MSNBC recently ran a segment about Americans Elect, and then a segment about Rocky Anderson’s Justice Party. It includes a five-minute interview with Anderson, in which Maddow simply let Anderson speak about why he is forming the party. Here is the link.
On December 1, a New York Supreme Court in Albany upheld New York state’s new law, that says for redistricting purposes, prisoners should be counted at the address they lived before they were imprisoned, instead of at the prison. Little v New York State Task Force on Demographic Research & Reapportionment, 2310-2011. Here is the eleven-page opinion. The lawsuit had been filed by ten State Senators, most of whom represent areas that have prisons. Assuming the decision is not reversed, this means that rural upstate counties with many prisons will lose representation relative to urban areas where most prisoners lived before they were imprisoned.
According to this story, on December 2, Republicans in Wisconsin withdrew a pending lawsuit in the State Supreme Court over whether old legislative district boundaries, or new legislative district boundaries, should be used if there are any more legislative recall petitions filed in the next few weeks. Therefore, the old boundaries will be used. However, there is a second Republican Party lawsuit on this issue pending in a lower state court which hasn’t been withdrawn yet.
Americans Elect is now a qualified party in Mississippi. Mississippi has never required a petition for a party to qualify itself. Instead, a party is recognized by submitting a list of state officers, and also a list of congressional district committee officers. Mississippi has four U.S. House districts.
Mississippi is the only state that has never changed its law, on how a group becomes a qualified party. The law has existed since 1890. Mississipi’s experience shows that there is no need for states to require large petition hurdles for groups to become recognized parties.
Kevin Kennedy, a township committeemember in Belleville, New Jersey, has recently registered as a member of the Reform Party. Kennedy was first elected to that position in 1998, and has been re-elected ever since. Before he registered into the Reform Party, he was a registered Democrat. Belleville has a population of 35,926.
