On June 17, U.S. District Court Judge Lynn Hughes, a Reagan appointee, ruled that a November 2010 ballot measure passed by the voters of Houston, Texas, is invalid. Here is the six-page opinion in City of Houston v American Traffic Solutions, Inc., southern district H-10-4545. There will be an appeal. American Traffic Solutions is the company that installs red light cameras at intersections.

Texas election law, and the Houston city charter, permit initiatives to amend to city charter, but there is no initiative process for ordinances. There is provision for referendums for ordinances, but referendum petitions must be filed shortly after an ordinance is passed by the city council. In 2004 the Houston city council passed an ordinance to use cameras to record cars running red lights. No one filed a referendum petition against that new policy in 2004. As time went on, popular discontent with the cameras increased, so in 2010 the city council, responding to popular opinion, put a proposed Charter Amendment on the ballot to ask the voters if they wish to eliminate the cameras. The voters passed it, but this decision invalidates the vote, on the grounds that an issue that narrow can’t be a Charter amendment. It is not clear why this case is in federal court instead of state court.

Americans Elect’s web page now says 1,348,312 signatures have been obtained on petitions around the nation, to get that party on the ballot. The page seems to update that figure each Thursday. Last week’s total had been 1,262,665. The vast majority of these signatures have been obtained in California, where 1,030,040 valid signatures are needed.

In California, Americans Elect petitioners are being paid $1.25. However, if a petitioner submits at least 400 signatures per week, the pay for all signatures for that petitioner that week is raised to $2.00 per signature.

On June 17, the New York legislature passed A8363 and S5753, identical bills which move the presidential primary from February to April 24. Any qualified party in New York is free to choose the Republican Party’s presidential primary rules. The Republican Party’s presidential primary rules in New York enable any presidential candidate to appear on his or her party’s presidential primary ballot without a petition. The candidate must either be mentioned in the news media or else must be eligible to receive primary matching funds.

These rules will make it practical for the Green Party to hold its second presidential primary in New York state. The Green Party was ballot-qualified in 2000 and had four candidates in its presidential primary that year: Ralph Nader (445 votes); Jello Biafra (87 votes); Joel Kovel (79 votes); and Stephen Gaskin (24 votes). Thanks to Josh Putnam for the news about the New York legislature’s recent action.