Zack Kaldveer has this fairly length analysis of California’s Proposition 14, the top-two election measure on the June 8 ballot. Kaldveer is Communication Director of the Consumer Federation of California. He is also editor of Privacy Revolt, and also has the blog Take the Red Pill.
On May 2, the California State Senate passed SB 1140. Current law says no one may vote who has not registered two weeks before election day. The bill sets up a method for unregistered people to register on election day. However, they could not vote at their neighborhood polling place. They would need to go to the county seat, or perhaps an auxiliary county elections office. See this story.
The vote was 22-12. Bills must have 21 votes in order to pass, no matter how few Senators are present and voting. California has 40 Senators. The press in California has been noting recently the poor attendance in the California Senate recently.
On June 2, the Massachusetts House passed the National Popular Vote Plan bill by 114-35.
The Desert Dispatch, the daily newspaper for Barstow, California, has this op-ed about California’s Proposition 14. It is by Richard Reeb, an author and political scientist.
On May 27, Colorado Governor Bill Ritter, a Democrat, signed HB 1271. This is the bill that improves ballot access for independent candidates. The old law said no one could be an independent candidate (other than for President) if that person had been a member of a qualified party at any time in the entire year before filing. The bill eases that, so the prior period only goes back to January 1 of the election year.
California is now the only state with a prior registration restriction on independent candidates that is so severe, that it goes back into the year before the election.
