On April 7, the Louisiana House and Governmental Affairs Committee passed HB 292 unanimously. It would convert Congressional elections from a semi-closed system, to a “top-two” system. The first round would be in November. If no one got a majority in November, the state would hold a run-off in December. The author of HB 292 is Rep. Hunter Greene (R-Baton Rouge).

The Committee also considered HB 1157, by Rep. Cameron Henry. It would have retained partisan elections for Congress, but abolished run-off party primaries. Both bills would have saved money. The Committee chair said the Speaker had told him to advance only one of these two bills, so HB 1157 did not pass. However, it could be revived if HB 292 does not get enacted into law. For more detail, see this story (scroll down).

In November 2008, the voters of Kinston, North Carolina, voted to convert city elections from partisan to non-partisan. However, the U.S. Justice Department, Voting Rights Section, refused to allow the change.

Now advocates of non-partisan elections have filed a lawsuit in federal court in Washington, D.C., alleging that the Voting Rights Act, Section 5, is unconstitutional. Section 5 is the part of the Voting Rights Act that requires certain states to ask permission from the Voting Rights Section before changing any election law or practice. Most of the states covered by Section 5 are in the South. The voters were free to simply ask the U.S. District Court to overrule the Voting Rights Section, and approve the change from partisan to non-partisan elections. Instead, they are asking that the federal law itself be invalidated. The new case is LaRoque v Holder, 1:10-cv-00561. Thanks to ElectionLawBlog for thisnews.

Brian Doyle, a candidate for U.S. House in the Democratic primary in South Carolina’s 3rd district, filed a lawsuit on January 27, challenging the Democratic Party’s refusal to let him file in the primary and also challenging the party’s refusal to list him on the party’s web page. The party’s web page purports to list all candidates in the party’s primary this year for federal and state office.

Since then, Doyle has been allowed to file, but the party is still not listing him on its web page, in the candidate list. On April 6, the judge asked in writing for the party to explain the reasons for its behavior. The case is Doyle v South Carolina Democratic Party, 3:10-cv-203.