New York Lawsuit Likely to be Filed to Force Special U.S. House Election

Posted on by April 23, 2010
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On March 8, New York U.S. House member Eric Massa resigned from his position. He had been elected from the 29th district in November 2008. That is the district in the southwestern corner of the state. Massa was a Democrat.

Since then, New York officials have said they will leave the seat empty until it can be filled in November 2010, because a special election would cost too much money. Under the Constitution, a House seat cannot be filled in any way except by a vote of the people. See this story, which says that a lawsuit to force a special election will be filed next week.

New Mexico Supreme Court Puts Candidate on Democratic Primary Ballot

Posted on by April 23, 2010
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New Mexico holds its primaries on June 1. On April 21, the New Mexico Supreme Court ordered that Kerby Johnson, a candidate for Magistrate in Aztec, be restored to the Democratic ballot. The Court said it would explain later. Johnson’s petition had been challenged, but the challengers had not served him personally. Instead, they had postally mailed notice of their challenge to him. The basis for the decision, restoring his name to the ballot, is that he should have been served personally. See this story.

New California Registration Data; Independents Decline Slightly

Posted on by April 23, 2010
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On April 23, the California Secretary of State released new registration data, as of April 9, 2010. For a county-by-county breakdown, and state totals for each party, see here.

The previous registration tally had been as of January 5, 2010. Since then, the percentage of voters registered in the Democratic Party, and the Reform Party, has declined (the Reform Party is not ballot-qualified, but it is by far the largest unqualified party). Also, compared to January 5, the number of registered independents has declined. All the qualified parties except the Democratic Party increased their share.

This paragraph lists the qualified parties, with the January 2010 percentage first, and the April 2010 figure next:

Democratic: 44.62%, 44.57%
Republican: 30.75%; 30.79%
American Independent: 2.26%, 2.31%
Green: .659%, .664%
Libertarian: .499%, .506%
Peace & Freedom: .325%, .333%

Independents were 20.18% in January, and are now at 20.14%. Members of unqualified parties (including the Reform Party) were at .70% in January, and are now at .69%.

BBC Trust Limits British Election Debate to Three Parties

Posted on by April 23, 2010
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Great Britain is holding a House of Commons election on May 6. Three debates among the leaders of the Labour, Conservative, and Liberal Democratic Parties have been scheduled (one has already taken place).

On April 23, the BBC Trust, which controls the invitations to these debates, ruled that two other parties will not be included in these debates. The two parties are the Scottish National Party and Plaid Cymru. See this story. The BBC Trust said that only the three invited parties have a chance of winning the election. Thanks to Eric Garris for the link.

Neither the Scottish National Party, nor Plaid Cymru, have enough candidates for House of Commons to elect a majority. It is not clear if two other parties that do have enough candidates to elect a majority, the UK Independence Party and the Green Party, have also complained about being excluded from the debates.

San Diego Democrats Complain About San Diego Republicans Insert in Voters Pamphlet

Posted on by April 23, 2010
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California is one of the few states in which the government mails a Voters Pamphlet to all voters, a few weeks before any public election. In partisan primaries, the election law lets qualified political parties furnish an envelope to elections officials, and the elections officials then include that envelope in all the Voters Pamphlets that are going to members of that party. The purpose of the envelope is to make it easy for a voter to send a contribution to that party.

The San Diego Republican Party this year furnished not only an envelope, but a flyer, for insertion into the Voters Pamphlets that are going to Republican registrants. According to this article, the San Diego County Democratic Party sued to stop the insert, but the judge allowed the insert after he ordered some changes in the content of the insert.