On January 3, California Assemblymember Paul Fong, chair of the Assembly Elections Committee, introduced AB 80. It moves the presidential primary from February to June.
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On January 4, the U.S. Supreme Court gave the Federal Election Commission a 30-day delay in filing a response in Cao v FEC, 10-776. This is the case in which the national Republican Party and one of its past congressional nominees challenge part of the McCain-Feingold law. The case concerns the spending limit on political party speech, if that speech mentions one of the party’s congressional nominees and in which that speech is coordinated with the nominee.
The FEC’s response is now due on February 11. The Court has not yet decided whether to hear this case.
Nebraska and Maine are the only states that let the voters of each U.S. House district choose their own presidential elector. In 2008, one of Nebraska’s U.S. House districts chose a Democratic elector, so the electoral college vote in 2008 for Nebraska was split between Barack Obama (who got one vote) and John McCain (who got two electors from each of the other two districts, plus the two at-large electors).
This newspaper story predicts that the Nebraska legislature may abolish that system, and make the state winner-take-all. The Nebraska legislature convenes on January 5 and there is no such bill yet. A similar bill was introduced in 2009, but it didn’t pass. Thanks to PoliticalWire for the link. Although Nebraska’s legislature is elected on a non-partisan basis, a large majority of the state legislators are registered Republicans.
Nebraska and Maine are the only states that let the voters of each U.S. House district choose their own presidential elector. In 2008, one of Nebraska’s U.S. House districts chose a Democratic elector, so the electoral college vote in 2008 for Nebraska was split between Barack Obama (who got one vote) and John McCain (who got two electors from each of the other two districts, plus the two at-large electors).
This newspaper story predicts that the Nebraska legislature may abolish that system, and make the state winner-take-all. The Nebraska legislature convenes on January 5 and there is no such bill yet. A similar bill was introduced in 2009, but it didn’t pass. Thanks to PoliticalWire for the link. Although Nebraska’s legislature is elected on a non-partisan basis, a large majority of the state legislators are registered Republicans.
Newly-elected North Carolina State Representative Stephen LaRoque (R-Kinston) is ready to introduce a ballot access reform bill, as soon as the legislature convenes on January 26. It would lower the number of signatures for a newly-qualifying party from 2% of the last gubernatorial vote (now 85,379 signatures) to exactly 10,000 signatures. It would lower the number of signatures for a statewide independent candidate from that same 2%, to exactly 5,000 signatures. It would lower the number for U.S. House candidates to 1,000 (the current requirement for independent candidates for U.S. House is now 4% of the number of registered voters, which is over 15,000 signatures).
Free the Vote, a North Carolina organization that works on election law issues, has this press release about the bill. The press release has a link to the text of the bill, which has already been prepared by employees of the legislature. LaRoque has been interested in election law for some time. He is one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit that was filed by residents of Kinston, who are trying to implement the popular vote in that city to convert city elections from partisan elections to non-partisan elections. The U.S. Justice Department refused to let that measure be implemented. One of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit to let the city convert itself to non-partisan elections is an independent voter who wants to be a candidate for city office, and who complains that under the partisan structure, an independent candidate has a very difficult time getting on the ballot. If the LaRoque ballot access bill were to pass, that would ameliorate that particular plaintiff’s complaint.