The National Popular Vote Plan organization is among the dozens of non-profit organizations whose funds may have been depleted by the apparent embezzlement of Kinde Durkee. See this story, which says that Durkee was accountant and treasurer for the organization. Most of the publicity about her has focused on the impact Durkee has had on U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein’s campaign funds.
The September 23 New York Times has this story about Switzerland’s political party system. The article emphasizes how easy it is for parties to be formed and get on the ballot. Thanks to Independent Political Report for the link. It might be added that several U.S. Supreme Court opinions say the purpose of restrictive ballot access laws is to promote “stability”. In 1992 the U.S. Supreme Court upheld Hawaii’s ban on write-in votes on the grounds that the ban promotes “stability.” Yet Switzerland, with very lenient ballot access laws, and which permits write-ins, is one of the most stable nations in the world.
This news story says, near the end, that the New Jersey Democratic Party may quickly find a replacement nominee for Carl Lewis, the original Democratic Party nominee for State Senate, 8th district, in the November 2011 election. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.
KATU of Portland, Oregon, has this story about Americans Elect. The film clip shows a petitioner asking passersby to sign the petition to get Americans Elect on the ballot.
A U.S. District Court in Virginia will hold an oral argument in Lux v Judd on January 17, 2012. This is the case on Virginia’s law that forbids anyone from circulating a petition to get an independent candidate for U.S. House on the ballot, unless the circulator lives in that district. The Fourth Circuit already made it very difficult for the state to win this case, by ruling on July 6, 2011, that the law can’t be justified on the grounds that the requirement is needed to show that the candidate has support within that district. But the Fourth Circuit had sent the case back to the U.S. District Court to see if the state wants to make any new argument.
