Paul Jacob, head of Citizens in Charge, has this commentary in the September 27 edition of Townhall.com about the “top-two” election system that is used in Washington state, and which California voters will find in their June 2010 ballot.
Also, on September 27, the California Republican Party, meeting in Indian Wells (Riverside County) voted to oppose “top-two.”
The Uniform Law Commission, which has existed since 1892, is an institution which writes model proposed laws, and suggests its ideas to state legislatures. This year the Uniform Law Commission has been working on a model state law that would force presidential electors to vote for their own party’s nominee for president, when those electors vote in the electoral college. The committee working on this has set a public meeting in Chicago for December 4-5, 2009. Only members of the committee may speak, but anyone may watch. The meeting is at the Hotel Sax, 333 N. Dearborn St., Chicago Il 60610, 312-245-0333. Hours on December 4, a Friday, are 9 am to 5 pm; on December 5, 8:30 am to 3 pm. For more information on the meeting, contact Leang Sou, 312-450-6606.
New York state held primaries for partisan local office on September 15, in preparation for the November 3, 2009 general election. Write-in votes in the September primary are being tallied. In Putnam County, four write-in candidates seeking the Independence Party nomination for various local offices defeated their opponents, even though those opponents’ names were printed on the ballot. See this story. Thanks to Bill Van Allen for the link.
On the morning of September 25, arguments were heard in Massachusetts Republican Party v Deval Patrick in Massachusetts Superior Court in Boston, case no. 09-4078. In the afternoon of the same day, Judge Thomas Connolly ruled against the Republican Party and in favor of the Governor. The issue was whether H4246 could go into effect immediately or not. Here is the four-page decision.
When bills are passed in the Massachusetts legislature, they don’t go into effect for 90 days, unless the Governor declares an emergency; then the law can go into effect immediately. This bill says Governors may appoint a U.S. Senator to fill a vacancy, and that appointee would hold office until the state can hold a special election to fill the seat. The Republican Party said the Governor had no right to call this an emergency bill, but the Court said Governors have discretion to decide whether a bill relates to an emergency or not.
Green Party Watch reports here that Green Party nominee Lynne Serpe, running for New York city council in the 22nd district, has a campaign budget in excess of $100,000. Serpe is a leader of the Community Environmental Center, the state’s largest non-profit energy conservation organization. It sponsors energy conservation and weatherization improvements in low-income neighborhoods.
Serpe is running against incumbent Democrat Peter F. Vallone Jr, who is the son of a former Speaker of the New York State Assembly. Councilmember Vallone is famous in New York city for his anti-grafitti work.
Serpe’s budget is as large as it is because New York city has non-discriminatory public funding for city council candidates.
