The District of Columbia held its primary this year on April 3. It was a combined presidential primary, and a primary for all other partisan office. According to this story, only 15% of the registered voters cast a ballot. City councilmembers are already talking about moving it to June in future years. See this story.
Supporters of the National Popular Vote Plan for presidential elections are airing a television ad in Kentucky, attacking U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell for his opposition to the National Popular Vote Plan idea. The ad is titled, “Winners Should Win” and makes reference to the recent victory of the Kentucky Wildcats in the NCAA basketball competition. The ad explains that under the existing system, presidential candidates can be sworn into office even though they received fewer popular votes than other presidential candidates.
The ad is sponsored by a 501(c)(4) organization called “Support Popular Vote”, which is backed by Tom Golisano. Senator McConnell has been a leading foe of the National Popular Vote Plan idea.
Watch the ad here:
On August 4, the Minnesota House amended SF 2296 to include a provision moving the primary from August to June. Because Minnesota law already says that independent presidential petitions are due on primary day, the bill would have the effect of moving the petition deadline from August to June.
However, on August 5, the Senate refused to agree to the House amendment. The vote in the House, inserting the amendment on the primary date change, was 66-65.
Petition deadlines for independent presidential candidates have been held unconstitutional, or enjoined, if they are as early as June, in these states: Alaska, Arizona, Kansas, Nevada, Rhode Island, and South Dakota. This information has been sent to an election law analyst in the Minnesota Secretary of State’s office.
Arcadia, California, holds an all-mail ballot for city office this month. The ballots are printed in several languages. The ballot is supposed to tell voters to vote for up to two candidates for city council. But the Mandarin directions on the ballot, intended to help voters who read Mandarin easier than English, says to vote for up to three candidates. The city will send a postcard to all voters, warning them of the error. See this story. Thanks to ElectionUpdates for the link.
The New York Times of April 6 has this fairly lengthy story about the Texas Green Party, and the Texas Libertarian Party. It was written by Ross Ramsey of the Texas Tribune. It is somewhat unusual for the New York Times to publish a story about either of these minor parties. The story seems factually accurate. Thanks to Jim Riley for the link.
