On May 10, Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam signed SB 3700, which moves the petition deadline for newly-qualifying parties from April to August. It also gives newly-qualifying parties the choice of whether to nominate by convention or primary (if they want a primary, of course they must file before the primary). This bill only passed because minor parties won the 2010 lawsuit and also the 2012 lawsuit, against the early deadline.

This is an example of the kind of reform that can occur, when judges strike down restrictive ballot access laws. The new Tennessee law will not injure election administration to the slightest degree. Although the state is appealing, the only remaining important issues on appeal are: (1) whether the state must give all parties an equal chance to appear first on the ballot; and (2) whether the Constitution and Green Parties should remain on the 2012 ballot.

On May 14, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear Igartua v United States, 11-876. This is the case on whether the U.S. is obliged by various treaties it has signed to give Puerto Rico voting representation in Congress. Although the First Circuit had ruled against Puerto Rico in this same case, the decision had been 2-1.

Puerto Rico is the most populous jurisdiction in the world which has no voting representative in the national legislature (among those countries that have elected national legislative bodies). If Puerto Rico were entitled to voting representatives in the U.S. House, it would have eight or nine U.S. House members.

All overseas possessions of France, Netherlands, Spain, and Portugal are treated as parts of that nation, for representation in the national legislature. This is not true for Great Britain, but Great Britain’s most populous unrepresented colonial possession is Bermuda, which has fewer than 75,000 inhabitants. Aside from that, the Channel Islands, and the Isle of Man, are not considered parts of Great Britain and have their own parliaments, even though they recognize the British monarch as their own head of state.

On May 13, the most populous German state, North Rhine-Westphalia, held elections for its own state government. The Green Party polled 11.3%, the Free Democrats polled 8.6%, the Pirate Party polled 7.8%, and The Left polled 2.5%. The Social Democrats polled 39.1% and the Christian Democratic Union, which governs Germany, only polled 26.3%. Other parties polled the remainder of the vote. See this story.