On May 31, the Maine House voted on LD 804, which would provide that Maine have a unicameral legislature. Although a majority in the House voted for it, it needed two-thirds and did not get that much support. Thanks to Thomas MacMillan for the news.
On May 31, the Nevada Supreme Court asked for supplemental briefing on whether the special U.S. House election set for September 2011 ought to be delayed. The Court must decide whether the lower state court was correct, when it interpreted the election law in special congressional elections to mean that parties have nominees. The Supreme Court of Nevada seems to feel this is too complicated to be decided quickly. Thanks to Rick Hasen for this news.
On June 1, the North Carolina House Elections Committee will hear HB 32, at 2:10 p.m. This is the bill that lowers the number of signatures for minor and new parties, and independent candidates. Thanks to Brian Irving for this news.
On May 24, Todd Grayson, communications director for the Ohio Libertarian Party, was appointed to the city council of Perrysburg, Ohio. Perrysburg is a city of 21,000 in northwest Ohio. It has nonpartisan city elections. See this story, which does not mention his affiliation. Thanks to Kevin Knedler for this news.
On May 30, the plaintiffs in Chamness v Bowen filed this rebuttal brief. Chamness v Bowen is the federal lawsuit that challenges two particular details of California’s top-two primary election system: (1) although California prints write-in space on November ballots for Congress and state office, those write-ins can never be counted, even if a write-in candidate receives the most votes; (2) California lets some party members list their party on the ballot but won’t let others do so.
All briefs are now in, and the hearing will be on June 13 in Los Angeles.
