Most state legislatures have adjourned for the year. Three states in which the legislative process is not over, and which must deal with important election law issues, are New York, North Carolina, and California.

In New York, legislative and congressional redistricting is still not resolved. This Daily News editorial explains the current situation.

In North Carolina, the special session convenes soon and election law bills are on the agenda, including the ballot access reform bill, HB 32. Also pending is the omnibus election law bill, which includes a provision eliminating the straight-ticket device.

In California, many bills are part of the way through the legislature: the National Popular Vote Plan bill; a bill to count write-in votes when the voter forgets to fill in the square next to the name written in; a bill to move the presidential primary from February to June; a bill to provide for on-line voter registration; three bills to force petitioners to wear badges (but only if they are circulating initiative, referendum or recall petitions); a bill to outlaw paying circulators on a per-signature basis; and a bill to outlaw paying voter registration workers on a per-registration basis.

This article describes the July 12 special primary elections in Wisconsin, in the six State Senate districts with Republican incumbents who are being recalled. In Wisconsin, the successful completion of a recall petition simply means that a special election is held for that office. The special election process includes partisan primaries, if more than a single candidate from any one party files.

Democrats successfully completed recall petitions in six State Senate districts that have incumbent Republicans. Because Wisconsin is an open primary state, with no party registration, any person can file in any party’s primary, and any voter is free to choose any party’s primary ballot. Therefore, in all six districts, individuals who in their heart are Republicans filed to run in the Democratic primaries. These Republicans hope to win the Democratic primaries in as many districts as possible. That way, in the special general election, the race would be between the incumbent Republican, and some other Republican, so not matter who wins, the Republicans will still have the seat. The Wisconsin press has become accustomed to refering to “fake Democrats” to describe this process. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.

There are also two districts with recalls of Democratic Senators, and the same thing is happening in reverse in those districts. The primaries in those districts are on July 19.

The New York Times has this lengthy obituary of Fred Newman, who died July 3 and who founded the New Alliance Party and then became an important figure in the Reform Party and the New York city Independence Party. Thanks to Blair Bobier for the link.