The October 29 issue of the Lexington (Kentucky) Herald-Leader has this op-ed by Howard Dean, advocating Instant Runoff Voting. Dean is former chair of the Democratic National Committee, and has been advocating IRV for many years.
4
On October 28, the Nevada Supreme Court issued a 6-page opinion in Fasano v Ashjian, 56040, holding the appeal moot. The case had been filed by Tim Fasano, Independent American Party nominee for U.S. Senate, to remove Scott Ashjian from the November ballot as the Tea Party nominee for U.S. Senate. The lower court had kept Ashjian on the ballot, and the Nevada Supreme Court said Fasano’s appeal cannot prevail because he waited too long to file his appeal. Thanks to Glenn Brown for this news.
Fasano had pointed out that Ashjian had signed a declaration of candidacy saying he was registered in the Tea Party, when in fact he did not change his registration from “Republican” to “Tea” for several hours afterwards. The lower court had ruled in favor of Ashjian by finding that a de minimus violation.
This is the second case in which the Nevada Supreme Court had ruled against attempts to get Ashjian off the ballot. The other case, which was potentially very bad for ballot access, had been filed by Citizen Outreach, a conservative group, and had argued that the Secretary of State had erroneously put the Tea Party on the ballot and that new parties need two separate petitions, one signed by 250 voters due early in the year, and then a separate petition signed by over 9,000 voters due in the late spring.
On October 28, several Minnesota organizations jointly filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court, seeking the ability to have their members, who would be both ordinary voters and poll watchers, wear certain kinds of buttons or shirts. Specifically, Election Integrity Watch wants its activists to be allowed to wear buttons that say “Please I.D. Me”, whether they are at the polls briefly in order to vote, or whether they are serving as election monitors.
Also, members of the Northstar Tea Party want their members to be allowed to wear shirts that say “Tea Party Patriots” when they vote.
The lawsuit asks that a Minnesota election law either be declared unconstitutional, or construed to allow these buttons and shirts. The law says, “A political badge, political button, or other political insignia may not be worn at or about the polling place on primary or election day.” The complaint points out that there is no Tea Party on the ballot in Minnesota, and that the buttons and shirts do not relate to any particular candidate or ballot measure that is on the ballot. See this story. The lawsuit is Minnesota Majority v Mansky, 10-cv-4401.
On October 28, the Field Poll released a gubernatorial poll for California. The poll did not mention all 6 candidates on the ballot. It merely asked respondents if they favor the Democratic nominee, the Republican nominee, or a minor party nominee. 5% of respondents said they favor a minor party nominee and 7% are undecided. The four California minor party gubernatorial nominees are debating each other on October 28 on the campus of California State University, Sacramento, at 1 p.m. The two major party nominees were invited but are not expected to attend.
California is one of the states that must ask for U.S. Justice Department approval before it alters its election laws. On August 16, 2010, California had forwarded a copy of the new “top-two” law that goes into effect in 2011, to the Voting Rights Section of the U.S. Justice Department.
On October 25, the Voting Rights Section replied to California, with questions about how “top-two” will affect ethnic and racial minorities. The questions are limited to past elections in the four covered counties, Kings, Merced, Monterey and Yuba Counties. After the state answers the questions, the Voting Rights Section has 60 days to evaluate the answers. “Top-two” cannot be into effect until this process is completed. Thanks to Rob Richie for this news.