The Washington Post has this lengthy op-ed by Thomas E. Mann and Norman J. Ornstein, “Want to End Partisan Politics? Here’s What Won’t Work – And What Will.”

Mann, a Democrat, is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. Ornstein, a Republican, is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. They recently wrote a book together, “It’s Even Worse Than it Looks” about the behavior of Congress in recent years. They deplore hyper-partisanship and the tendency of many members of Congress to put party above country. The book also suggests that Republican members of Congress bear considerably more of the blame than Democratic members.

The op-ed is based on the book. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.

As of April 30, the Oklahoma State Election Board has determined the number of registered voters in each party: Democratic 942,388; Republican 850,560; Americans Elect 5; independent 234,141.

The Oklahoma voter registration form has a blank line in the “political party” section, so anyone can register into any party, by writing in a selection in the blank line. However, the state will only tally the number of registered voters for the qualified parties, plus they will tally the number in an unqualified party if it has been on the ballot in the previous four years. No party has been ballot-qualified in Oklahoma other than the Democrats and Republicans since November 2000, except that Americans Elect qualified in March 2012.

On May 17, the Michigan State Court of Appeals held a hearing in the lawsuit over whether a referendum petition is valid. The State Board of Canvassers had invalidated the petition, even though it had 200,000 signatures, because of an allegation that the font size on the petition was incorrect. See this story. Thanks to Thomas Jones for the link. Supporters of the referendum filled the courtroom.