The New York has this Hendrik Hertzberg column, which rebuts common criticisms of the National Popular Vote Plan idea for presidential elections.
Reply
On January 10, a group of voters and candidates filed a cert petition with the U.S. Supreme Court, in the lawsuit over who may circulate nominating petitions to get candidates on New York primary ballots. New York says no one can circulate a petition to get a candidate on a primary ballot unless the circulator is either registered in that party, or a notary public or a commissioner of deeds. The case is Maslow v Board of Elections, 11-857.
The state has already asked for a month’s extension for its response, and the Court has granted the extension. The state’s response is now due March 9.
On February 1, the Nebraska Senate Government, Military & Veterans Affairs Committee will hear LB 757, the bill to make it easier for a party to remain ballot-qualified. The bill says if a party meets the 5% vote test, it then remains on the ballot for the next two elections, instead of just the next election.
On January 26, the Freedom Socialist Party announced that it has nominated its first national ticket. The presidential nominee is Stephen Durham of New York, and the vice-presidential nominee is Christina Lopez of Washington state. See here for more about the ticket.
The Freedom Socialist Party has run nominees for various public offices starting in 1991. It has had candidates for Congress, state legislature, or city office, in California, New York, Oregon, and Washington. Thanks to IndependentPoliticalReport for the link.
On January 27, Texas Governor Rick Perry asked to withdraw from the lawsuit Perry v Judd, 12-1067, the case in the 4th circuit over Virginia’s ban on out-of-state circulators. However, Newt Gingrich, who had intervened in the lawsuit last month, will keep the case alive.
The U.S. District Court in this case had ruled that the out-of-state circulator ban is almost certainly unconstitutional, but that Perry and the other intervening presidential candidates had filed the lawsuit too late to get injunctive relief. Perry had appealed the denial of injunctive relief, but the 4th circuit had agreed that he had filed the case too late. The 4th circuit has not yet expressed an opinion about the constitutionality of the state ban on out-of-state circulators, but will probably do so fairly soon. Briefs on that issue are all due by March 30, 2012. In the meantime, it seems likely that the legislature will repeal the ban on petitioners who live in Virginia but who circulate outside their home district, but will retain the ban on out-of-state circulators.