City of Tucson Wins Lawsuit, May Retain Partisan City Elections if it Wishes

Posted on by April 20, 2011
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On April 20, an Arizona State Court of Appeals reversed the lower court and ruled that if Tucson desires partisan elections for itself, it may have them. In 2009 the legislature had passed a law requiring all cities in the state to use non-partisan elections for city office, but the Court of Appeals ruled that the 2009 law violates the State Constitution. Here is the 24-page opinion, which is City of Tucson v State of Arizona, 2ca-cv2010-0083. The vote was 2-1.

The voters of Tucson had voted in favor of partisan city elections several years ago. No other city in Arizona uses partisan city elections. Generally, Democrats win Tucson elections for city office. UPDATE: this article in the Tucson Sentinel says the losing side is likely to appeal to the Arizona Supreme Court.

Missouri Ballot Access Bill Advances

Posted on by April 20, 2011
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On April 20, the Missouri House Rules Committee passed SB 282. The bill now moves to the House floor. Among many other unrelated changes, it permits an unqualified party to circulate a petition to qualify itself, without the need for that petition to list candidates for president and presidential elector. Of course, this makes it possible for the petition to be circulated before the group has chosen a presidential nominee.

Newspaper Says Oklahoma Legislators are Pondering Eliminating Runoff Primaries

Posted on by April 20, 2011
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This story suggests that Oklahoma legislators have not yet decided whether to move the non-presidential primary from July to June, or whether to eliminate the runoff primary. The legislature must choose one of these options before it adjourns this year. The existing system cannot survive, because of the federal law that requires foreign absentee ballots to be mailed at least 45 days before an election. Current law has too little time between the primary and the runoff primary.

The legislature will adjourn for the year in mid-May or late May. If the legislature moves the non-presidential primary to June, the same bill moves the petition for a new party to March 1, which would be unconstitutionally early.

U.S. Supreme Court Won't Stay 6th Circuit Order, so Ohio Provisional Ballots from November 2010 can Finally be Counted

Posted on by April 20, 2011
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On April 20, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to grant a stay in the Hamilton County, Ohio election lawsuit over provisional ballots from the November 2, 2010 election. See this order. This means the two candidates for Juvenile County Judge, a Republican and a Democrat, will finally be able to learn who won the election. Thanks to Rick Hasen for this news.

Hamilton County Board of Elections didn’t want to count provisional ballots for certain voters who turned in the ballots to the wrong precinct location on election day, even though the voters were in the right building. There was confusion because there were two precincts voting in the same building. The voters were not at fault, because polling place officials gave them misinformation. Nevertheless, Ohio election law says provisional ballots are invalid if they are not turned in at the right precinct. But the U.S. District Court, and the 6th circuit, said they should be counted anyway, because Hamilton County had counted a different set of provisional ballots that had not been turned in at the correct precinct. The lower courts cited Bush v Gore, which said “Having once granted the right to vote on equal terms, the state may not, by later arbitrary and disparate treatment, value one person’s vote over that of another.”

New Jersey Students Sue to Overturn 21-Day Advance Registration Deadline for Registering to Vote

Posted on by April 20, 2011
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On April 19, the Rutgers University Student Assembly, and several other groups, along with individual voters, filed a lawsuit against the New Jersey law that sets a 21-day advance registration deadline for people to register to vote. The case is Rutgers University Student Assembly v Middlesex County Board of Elections, superior court, Middlesex County. The lawsuit is based on the New Jersey Constitution. It argues that given modern technology, there is no need to close off voter registration as much as three weeks before any election. The complaint suggests that there is no strong state interest not to let voters register on election day. Thanks to Frank Askin for this news.