On November 10, the Illinois League of Women Voters submitted this 6-page request for reconsideration in the League’s lawsuit against the legislative redistricting plan. As noted in an earlier post, a U.S. District Court on October 28 had rejected the League’s argument that the First Amendment prohibits partisan gerrymanders.
This Florida news story about the Buddy Roemer presidential campaign mentions that Roemer might run for President outside the two major parties, and also has a link to a Roemer campaign video, in which Roemer praises the “Occupy Wall Street” movement. Thanks to Nancy Hanks for the link.
Last night, Ballot Access News appealed for donations and/or pledges to COFOE (the Coalition for Free & Open Elections) for the purpose of making it possible for the Vermont ballot access lawsuit to go forward. In only 12 hours, $615 has been pledged. No money that has been pledged will necessarily be donated unless the goal of $2,000 has been met. Please consider e-mailing richardwinger@yahoo.com with a pledge. Small amounts do help.
Portland, Maine’s daily newspaper, the Press-Herald, has this editorial about Instant Runoff Voting, which the city used for the first time this past week.
Western Illinois University, in McComb, Illinois, since 2007, has held “the nation’s largest mock election” for President. A year before the actual election, students mimic the role of primary voters, caucus attendees, and hold mock presidential nomination procedures. Then there is a mock campaign, and a mock general election. See this story.
This year, the process started on October 25. The mock primary/caucus process produced three tickets: Democrats nominated Barack Obama for President and Hillary Clinton for Vice-President; Republicans nominated Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan; Greens nominated Jill Stein and Kent Mesplay. Then, at the mock general election, the results were 39% for the Democratic ticket, 33% for the Republican ticket, 27% for the Green ticket, and 1% other.
Libertarians were involved but they chose to work for Ron Paul in the mock Republican convention. Jill Stein spoke on campus, and this obviously helped the Green campaign, because no other actual presidential candidates appeared on campus. See this story at Green Party Watch, which has a link to Stein’s speech. Also, see this additional coverage at Jill Stein’s web page.
