On May 4, the California Assembly Appropriations Committee passed AB 459 by a vote of 14-2. This is the bill in which California would join the National Popular Vote Plan.
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Paul Jacob, head of Citizens in Charge, which works to protect and expand the initiative process, has this column in Fox and Hounds. The column pokes fun at the California bills to force everyone who circulates an initiative, referendum or recall petition to wear large badges on their chests. Thanks to Tom Jones for the link.
The Economist has this article about the upcoming British vote on Instant Runoff Voting (called Alternative Voting in Britain, or “AV” for short). Toward the end of the article, one reads that the University of Essex studied exit polls and opinion polls from the last election, and predicted what would have happened if Britain had been using IRV in that election.
The actual results were: Conservative 305 seats, Labour 258 seats, Liberal Democrats 57 seats (the article doesn’t mention the seats won by other parties). Under IRV, the study predicts the results would have been: Conservative 283, Labour 248, Liberal Democrats 89. Thanks to Jerry Kunz for the link.
Both houses of the Oklahoma legislature have passed SB 91, which requires birth certificates for presidential candidates running in a presidential primary. However, the House amended the bill, and on May 3, the Senate refused to accept the House amendment. Therefore, the bill has been sent to a conference committee.
The House amendment says that a certified copy is sufficient, for a candidate born abroad who is a child of a citizen of the United States. The original bill demands the original, and does not permit a certified copy.
On March 29, the Illinois House had passed HB 2009 by a vote of 75-38. It restricts who can be an independent candidate. Specifically, anyone who either lost a primary, or who won a primary but then withdrew from that primary nomination, would be barred from running as an independent candidate in November.
On April 27 the bill was sent to the Senate Executive Committee, and it is still there. Often, bills not supported by the legislative leadership are sent to this commitee, which has a tradition of killing bills.