On October 22, the U.S. Senate passed S.1390, the Defense Authorization Bill. The bill includes the Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment Act, which requires states to mail overseas absentee ballots in federal elections at least 45 days before the election. This will almost surely force states with September primaries for Congress to move them to late August. See this story.
On October 22, a U.S. District Court in Colorado issued an injunction against certain campaign finance laws in Longmont, Colorado. The case is Western Tradition Partnership v City of Longmont, 09-cv-2303. The city had interpreted its own law to require groups that comment on candidates for city office to report their expenditures. Also, such commentary had to include within the body of the message a statement of how much that particular ad or communication was costing. Finally, such groups had to inform the candidates about their commentary.
The Court said that the latter two requirements are unconstitutional, and said that the first one is a case of the city misunderstanding its own law. Here is the 16-page opinion.
On October 22, the Federal Election Commission said it will not ask the U.S. Court of Appeals, D.C. Circuit, to reconsider its September 18 decision in Emily’s List v FEC, no. 08-5422. The Court had invalidated FEC regulations that impose a $5,000 limit on how much an individual may contribute to non-profit organizations that make independent expenditures for or against a candidate for federal office. It is conceivable, but not likely, that the decision could be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. Thanks to ElectionLawBlog for this news.
As a result of the decision, political parties are the only non-corporate organizations that may not receive more than a fixed amount of money from individuals, for the purpose of spending on independent expenditures for or against a particular federal candidate.
On October 22, the Federal Election Commission said it will not ask the U.S. Court of Appeals, D.C. Circuit, to reconsider its September 18 decision in Emily’s List v FEC, no. 08-5422. The Court had invalidated FEC regulations that impose a $5,000 limit on how much an individual may contribute to non-profit organizations that make independent expenditures for or against a candidate for federal office. It is conceivable, but not likely, that the decision could be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. Thanks to ElectionLawBlog for this news.
As a result of the decision, political parties are the only non-corporate organizations that may not receive more than a fixed amount of money from individuals, for the purpose of spending on independent expenditures for or against a particular federal candidate.
On October 22, a Marist poll was released for the New York city Mayoral election. It shows Mike Bloomberg (Republican, Independence) at 52%, William Thompson (Democratic, Working Families) at 36%, “Other” at 7%, and undecided at 5%. See this story.
