According to this story by Anna Sale, Morton H. Meyerson is on Americans Elect’s advisory committee. Meyerson is former chair and CEO of Perot Systems, and also former President of Electronic Data Systems, both companies formed many years ago by Ross Perot. The Dallas Symphony Center is named for Meyerson.
According to CNN, the South Carolina Republican Party will announce on October 3 that its presidential primary will be January 21. See here. The only state that has not yet set its presidential primary date is New Hampshire; however, the Nevada and Iowa caucus dates are also still not determined.
As noted previously, on August 30, a U.S. District Court in Nebraska struck down that state’s ban on out-of-state circulators, which had been passed in 2007. The time for the state to appeal has now run out, and the state decided not to appeal. Thanks to Kent Bernbeck for this news.
On October 3, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a case filed by Dallas County, Texas, over the Voting Rights Act and electronic vote-counting machines. The case had been before the U.S. Supreme Court since last year. Today the U.S. Supreme Court says the case is moot. It is Dallas County, Texas v Texas Democratic Party, 10-755. The lower court had ruled that the county must ask the U.S. Justice Department to pre-clear a change in how certain machines count votes. The county had then sought and obtained pre-clearance.
There was a second part of this case pending before the U.S. Supreme Court in this same case, no. 10-1183, concerning attorneys fees. The Supreme Court remanded that minor part of the case back to the lower court so it could be re-done.
Also on October 3, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear Alan Keyes’ lawsuit against California Secretary of State Debra Bowen, over whether Bowen should have investigated Barack Obama’s qualifications before she listed him on California ballots in 2008. That case is Keyes v Bowen, 10-1351. The case, which had come up from the California state courts, had received a significant decision from the State Court of Appeals. The State Court of Appeals had ruled that the Secretary of State has no authority to reject the presidential nominee of any ballot-qualified party, whether the candidate meets the constitutional qualifications or not. That decision will now stand.
Also on October 3, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the Massachusetts Libertarian case over presidential substitution. The party had been hoping that the U.S. Supreme Court would leave the party’s case open, until the State Supreme Court rules on what the law actually provides. It is possible the State Supreme Court will construe the law to mean that presidential stand-ins are permitted.
On October 1, the Nevada Republican Party executive board voted to hold Nevada’s 2012 presidential caucuses in January, although the Board did not set a particular date. See this story. Thanks to Frontloading HQ for the link. Although the national Republican Party rules permit Nevada to be one of the four earliest states to choose delegates, the national rules do not permit any states, not even the favored four, to choose delegates before February. Therefore, if the national rules are followed, Nevada (and undoubtedly New Hampshire, Iowa and South Carolina) will lose half their delegates.
Some Republican Party leaders in the states that are breaking the rule do not believe that it matters if a state party loses half its delegates, because in recent decades, the delegates don’t do anything meaningful anyway.
