New London, Connecticut’s daily newspaper, The Day, has this September 27 editorial. It discusses the August 27 ruling that invalidated Connecticut’s public funding law for candidates for state office. The ruling invalidated the system because it discriminates so severely against minor party and independent candidates. The editorial is supportive of the decision and urges the legislature to correct the flaws in the law as soon as possible. The editorial urges that the legislature be called into special session this year, instead of leaving the matter unsettled and thus making it difficult for candidates in 2010 to plan ahead.

The Voting Rights Section of the U.S. Justice Department recently approved the use of Limited Voting, for Calera, Alabama city council elections. See this story. There will be 6 to be elected, but each voter will only be able to cast one vote. Calera is 20% black and has slightly more than 10,000 residents. It is a suburb of Birmingham. Thanks to Ed Still’s VoteLawBlog for the link.

It seems puzzling that the Voting Rights Section recently objected to Limited Voting in Euclid, Ohio, yet it has approved the idea for Calera, Alabama.

Germany held federal elections on September 27. It appears the Christian Democratic/Christian Social Union Party got 33.8%, and will form a coalition with the Free Democratic Party, which got 14.6%, its best showing ever. The Social Democratic Party got 23.1%, its worst showing ever. The Left Party, the only party that campaigned on removing all German troops immediately from Afghanistan, got 11.9%; the Green Party got 10.6%.