Back in November 2011, a group of New York community leaders, and persons interested in government and elections, filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn, asking the Court to take over redistricting of U.S. House and legislative districts, on the theory that the New York legislature had proved itself incapable of doing the job in a timely manner. That case is Favors v Cuomo, 11-cv-5632. It is before U.S. District Court Judge Dora Irizarry.

On February 10, the plaintiffs wrote a letter to Judge Irizarry, pleading for quick appointment of a 3-judge court, which would be needed for the court to take over redistricting. The letter says, in part, “The March 20 start to the candidate petitioning period is less than six weeks away, yet no congressional lines have even been proposed through New York’s legislative process. It is now exceedingly unlikely that a new congressional redistricting plan can be proposed and passed by the legislative redistricting task force, referred to and passed by the Legislature, signed by the Governor, sent to the U.S. Department of Justice and precleared, all sufficiently in advance of March 20 so that candidates and their supporters can prepare for the petitioning period.”

The letter attaches the February 9 order of U.S. District Court Judge Gary Sharpe (who is in Albany), which imposed a reduction in the number of signatures needed to get on a primary ballot and a reduction in the petitioning period. The period runs from March 20 through April 16, which is ten days shorter than the normal period. Judge Sharpe’s order is very critical of the New York legislature. It starts out, “New York has once again demonstrated its intransigent refusal to comply with a federal mandate protecting the federal voting rights of those serving in the military overseas and those otherwise living on foreign soil.”

On February 10, Virginia HB 1151 passed the House Privileges and Elections Committee unanimously. This is the bill that says the old U.S. House districts should be used for anyone circulating a petition for either primary ballot access, or general election ballot access, this year. The Committee amended the bill to make it applicable to Presidential petitions.

Until this bill passes, no one can be circulating for President in the general election, or U.S. Senate or U.S. House in either the primary or general elections. That is because no one knows what the district boundaries will be. But assuming it passes and is signed into law quickly, then petitioning for all federal offices can start. Bill Redpath persuaded the bill’s author, Delegate Mark Cole, to amend his bill so that it includes presidential petitions. The reason presidential petitions are affected is that the petition must list a presidential elector candidate who lives in each district, but the bill will permit the list to be drawn up based on the old boundaries.

Eliot Ackerman, Chief Operating Officer of Americans Elect, has this interview in NextGenJournal, an on-line magazine for young voters. The very first sentence spoken by Ackerman in the interview is, “I don’t think this is just about the candidates or centrism; this is about getting an independent ticket in the race.” What Ackerman said is consistent with Americans Elect bylaws. The Americans Elect rules have never mentioned the word “centrism”, and has never said the goal is to put a centrist in the race. Instead, Americans Elect rules required a balanced ticket, but any Democrat paired with a Republican, or vice versa, is “deemed” balanced by the Americans Elect rules.

Nevertheless, many press accounts over the last few months have falsely asserted that Americans Elect will only nominate “centrists.”