In the last session of the California legislature, a bill was introduced to force petition circulators to wear badges, saying where they are registered to vote. That bill did not pass. Now Assemblymember Ben Hueso (D-Chula Vista) has introduced AB 651. It requires circulators to wear badges in at least 30-point type identifying who hired the circulator to collect signatures, if the circulator is indeed being paid. The bill only applies to initiative, referendum, and recall petitions, but not to petitions to place a candidate or a party on the ballot.

On February 16, an Oklahoma State Supreme Court referee heard oral arguments in Duffe v State Question 748, case no. 109127. This lawsuit challenges the constitutionality of a new Oklahoma law that the voters passed last year. It sets up a Redistricting Commission, which draws the legislative district boundaries if the legislature fails to act. It says that all the members must be Democrats or Republicans. The law specifies those two parties by name. See this article. The plaintiff, Clark Duffe, is actually a Libertarian, and was an independent candidate for Congress last year because the Libertarian Party wasn’t on the ballot.

On February 11, a Virginia state court judge ruled that if the state gives the list of which voters voted to political parties, candidates, and PAC’s, then the state cannot withhold the list from other groups. The case is The Know Campaign v Rodrigues, cl-09-005389-00. The same circuit judge who issued the recent opinion had also granted injunctive relief back on October 1, 2010, so the decision was not surprising.

The lawsuit had been brought in 2009 by the Know Campaign, which says it wants to stimulate more people to vote. The Know Campaign wanted to send letters to voters, urging them to vote, and making these voters aware that whether they vote or not is a public record. The Know Campaign had done this in several other states, and wanted to do it in Virginia, but elections officials had refused to let the group have the records. The Know Campaign then brought the lawsuit. The state does not plan to appeal.

The 2010 session of the legislature had considered SB 624, to change the law to let non-profit groups obtain the list, but the bill did not pass. Thanks to Rick Hasen’s ElectionLawBlog for the news.