On October 17, a Maricopa County, Arizona Superior Court heard arguments in Arizona Advocacy Network Foundation v Bennett, cv2011-009646. The issue is whether a statewide ballot measure to defund public funding should be on the November 2012 ballot. In 2011, the legislature put a proposal on the ballot to ask voters if they wish to amend the Constitution, and ban the expenditure of public funds for public funding for candidates for state office. Supporters of public funding then sued to remove the measure from the ballot. The supporters of public funding charge that the measure is invalid because it covers more than a single subject.

According to this story about the hearing, the judge is troubled by the point that the measure would defund not only the state program for state candidates, but also Tucson’s public funding for candidates for city office.

Political Science Professor Mathew Manweller has published an article in the Election Law Journal on voter confusion in Washington state’s top-two system, “The Very Partisan Nonpartisan Top-Two Primary: Understanding What Voters Don’t Understand.” The article is based on Manweller’s experimental findings, giving voters three Washington state ballots and asking them for their understanding of the relationship between candidates and their own political parties. The experiment involved 183 new voters, 102 ordinary voters, and 549 politically active voters.

His experiment showed that a large proportion of voters are confused about the relationship between parties and candidates. Washington’s top-two system would be unconstitutional if voters believe that party labels on the ballot means anything other than that candidate’s statement about his or her own political leanings. Therefore, Manweller’s findings are relevant to whether the top-two system survives court scrutiny. Manweller’s article has been submitted to the Ninth Circuit, which is currently considering the constitutionality of the system. Because the article is now in the public record, and because the Washington Secretary of State’s web page links to the article, it can be seen by anyone, notwithstanding that normally Election Law Journal articles are copywrited. Here is the article. Thanks to Thomas Jones for noticing the link, and thanks to the Washington Secretary of State for posting it.

On October 17, the Missouri Senate convened and considered many amendments to two bills that would have altered the February 7, 2012 presidential primary. In the end, the Senate defeated all the proposed amendments and didn’t pass any bill on this subject. Frontloading HQ has the details here.

Although the February 7 presidential primary will now be held, it will not choose delegates to the Republican national convention. The Missouri Republican Party will use caucuses in March instead. Retaining the February 7 presidential primary will enable the state’s two ballot-qualified minor parties, the Libertarian Party and the Constitution Party, to have their own presidential primaries. UPDATE: here is a newspaper story on the retention of the primary.