On April 17, U.S. District Court Judge W. Allen Pepper, of the Northern District of Mississippi, denied a request by the Democratic Party that James Lowe be kept off the Democratic Party primary ballot as a candidate for Mayor of Leland. The primary is set for May 5. The party argued that Lowe should be kept off the Democratic primary ballot because he has recently been a member of the Republican Municipal Executive Committee. However, Judge Pepper said that there is no legal basis for the party’s request, neither in state law, nor in Democratic Party bylaws. The party did hastily pass a Bylaw barring candidates from its primary who have recently served on the committee of a different party, but the rule was passed after the candidate filed. Lowe v Democratic Municipal Executive Committee of the City of Leland, Mississippi, 4:09-cv-35. Thanks to Rick Hasen for this news.

On April 15, the Washington State House passed SB 5599, the National Popular Vote Plan bill. The bill had passed the Senate in March. It now goes to the Governor, who is likely to sign it. If she does, Washington will be the fifth state to have enacted the pact, which does not go into effect until states containing a majority of electoral votes have passed it.

After the 2010 census has been held, the number of seats held by each state in the U.S. House of Representatives will change. The National Conference of State Legislatures recently estimated what the 2010 reapportionment will mean for each state.

Eight states are expected to lose one seat each, in the U.S. House and in the Electoral College. They are Iowa, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, and Pennsylvania.

States that will gain will be Texas (3 seats), and one each for Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Nevada and Utah.

If the bill now pending in Congress to expand the House from 435 seats to 437 seats is signed into law, then one more state would gain a seat, and the District of Columbia would get its first voting seat.