On October 7, a Colorado lower state court refused the Secretary of State’s request for an injunction to stop Denver election officials from mailing mail ballots to inactive voters. See this story. An “inactive voter” is one who is on the registration rolls, but didn’t vote in 2010 and didn’t respond to a postcard asking if the voter wants a mail ballot.
On October 7, California Governor Jerry Brown vetoed SB 205, which made it a crime to pay registration workers on a per-registration card basis. Because Proposition 14 has left California minor parties with only one means to remain on the ballot, by having registration equal to 1% of the last gubernatorial vote, this veto will help minor parties. The Green, Libertarian, and Peace & Freedom Parties had asked that the bill not be signed. The veto message says, “Voting is at the heart of our democracy. Efforts to register voters should be encouraged, not criminalized.”
Brown also acted on four other election law bills. He signed SB 397, which makes it possible for voters to register to vote on-line. He also signed SB 202, which says that statewide initiatives cannot appear on primary ballots, but must wait for the general election.
He vetoed SB 334, which would put the names of the five biggest spenders on either side of a statewide ballot measure in the state ballot pamphlet. His veto message says the pamphlet printing schedule would exclude spending reported later than 15 weeks before the election, and consequently the pamphlet might give a false impression of who the big spenders are.
He vetoed AB 651, which would require paid petition gathering companies to register with the Secretary of State, make frequent reports, including details about how they train circulators. Thanks to Jack Dean for this news.
On October 1, the Philadelphia National Organization for Women announced that it is endorsing Cheri Honkaka for Sheriff of Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania. See this. Thanks to GreenPartyWatch for the link.
According to this story, Iowa Republican Party leaders have decided to hold their presidential caucus on January 3. The decision hasn’t been formally made, but will be formal on October 16.
George Will has published this column, opposing Pennsylvania SB 1282, the bill to let each U.S. House district choose its own presidential elector. The column also opposes the National Popular Vote Plan bill.
Will implies, but does not directly say, that the founding fathers wouldn’t like the Pennsylvania bill. Historical evidence contradicts that conclusion. In the very first presidential election, 1789, both Virginia and Massachusetts, homes of the first President and first Vice-President, held popular votes for presidential electors in which each U.S. House district chose its own presidential elector. Delaware, which only had one U.S. House member, split itself into three electoral college districts and let each district choose its own elector. In Connecticut, Georgia, New Jersey, and South Carolina, the legislature chose the electors. Three states didn’t choose any presidential electors because they hadn’t ratified the Constitution in time. The only states that chose presidential electors by popular vote at-large were Maryland, New Hampshire, and Pennsylvania.
Will is also unconvincing when he opposes the National Popular Vote Plan bill. He says the National Popular Vote Plan provides that the president would be elected by a majority vote. This is not true. Currently, the winner of the presidential election frequently only has a plurality, and that would continue to be true under the National Popular Vote Plan. Presidents elected without a majority vote in the past fifty years include Richard Nixon in 1968, Bill Clinton in both 1992 and 1996, and George W. Bush in 2000.
