On August 25, the Washington state Democratic, Republican, and Libertarian Parties filed their rebuttal briefs in Washington State Republican Party v Washington State Grange, 11-35125. All the briefs are now in. The 9th circuit will probably hold an oral argument in this case in the next few months. This is the lawsuit, originally filed in 2005, that challenges the top-two system in Washington state. The case has been up to the U.S. Supreme Court and back down again.

Here is the Republican brief; here is the Democratic brief; here is the Libertarian brief.

The United States has become accustomed to polls that ask voters if they are Democrats, Republicans, or independents. On August 25, AP-GfK Roper Polls released a poll that gives respondents four choices: Democrat, Republican, Independent, or “None of these”. The results: Independent 30%, Democrats 29%, Republicans 21%, “none of these” 20%.

The poll was conducted August 18-22 and had 1,000 respondents. See page 10 of the poll for the question about affiliation. It follows the page that has the questions about religion and abortion. AP-GfK Roper has been asking this four-choice question about partisan affiliation for several years.

On August 25, the state of Arizona filed a federal lawsuit, charging that Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act violates the U.S. Constitution. Section 5 is the part that requires certain states to pre-clear election law changes. See this story. The case is State of Arizona v Holder. Here is the complaint. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.