As noted earlier, on January 19, 2010, the South Florida Tea Party, Inc., had filed a federal lawsuit, demanding that the ballot-qualified Tea Party change its name. On February 17, the South Florida Tea Party, Inc., filed an amended complaint. It again asks that the court order the ballot-qualified party to change its name. It says, “Defendants…must include other terms in order to avoid public confusion that the Florida ‘Tea Party’ is somehow endorsed or approved by the Plaintiffs, and other persons or entities that are similarly situated. Alternatively, Defendant Tea Party must amend the name of the political party to comport with the admitted meaning of the acronym, namely, ‘Taxed Enough Already’.” (page 31). UPDATE: here is the response of the ballot-qualified Tea Party, asking the Court to dismiss the lawsuit. This is the party’s first response, from February 8, and the party will file a new, similar version soon.

The amended complaint says “Florida Tea Party activists, such as the Plaintiffs, are working toward reform within the Republican Party and view third party candidacies as counter-productive.”

The new complaint differs from the original complaint by having many more plaintiffs, including Tea Party groups from states other than Florida, such as Texas, South Carolina, New Jersey, Washington, and Michigan. Thanks to Bill Van Allen for help getting the amended complaint.

One of the ironies of this case is that many counties in Florida don’t print complete party names on ballots. Instead they only print acronyms. So, even if this lawsuit were successful, and the ballot-qualified party were forced to change its name from “Tea Party” to “Taxed Enough Already Party”, many counties would still print “TEA” next to the names of any of the party’s candidates.

The Las Vegas Sun has this story about a poll in the U.S. Senate race. The story contains a link to the poll data that includes various Republicans, and incumbent Senator Harry Reid, and Tea Party nominee Jon Ashjian.

If the Republican nominee is Sue Lowden, the poll shows: Lowden 42%, Reid 37%, Ashjian 9%, other or undecided 12%.

If the Republican nominee is Danny Tarkanian, the results are: Tarkanian 40%, Reid 39%, Ashjian 11%, other or undecided 11%.

If the Republican nominee is John Chachas, the results are: Reid 39%, Ashjian 22%, Chachas 21%, other or undecided 18%.

If the Republican nominee is Sharron Angle, the results are: Reid 37%, Angle 32%, Ashjian 16%, other or undecided 15%.

Probably the Independent American Party will also have a candidate in this race, although the Libertarians won’t and the Green Party won’t.

Virginia law already lets political parties, candidates, PAC’s, and elected office-holders obtain the list of which voters voted in the last election. A bill is moving through the legislature that adds a new category to the list, namely, groups that encourage voter turnout. It is SB 624, and it has already passed the State Senate unanimously and also has passed a Subcommittee in the House.

The bill is moving along because a group called the Know Campaign sued the state. The Attorney General does not feel that he can defend the lawsuit, so he is asking the legislature to amend the law so as to make the lawsuit moot. See this story in the Virginian-Pilot newspaper of Norfolk. The story’s title, “Nosy neighbors could know your votes” is not very clear. The information only concerns who voted, not how anyone voted.

The Know Campaign’s goal is to increase voter turnout. The Know Campaign is non-partisan and non-ideological. In certain other states, the Know Campaign obtained the list of which voters had voted in the last election, and publicized it. The Know Campaign believes that if people will realize that other people will know if they voted or not, that they will be more likely to vote. Research does support this hypothesis.