A California Superior Court in Fairfield, Solano County, will hold a hearing on Tuesday morning on June 8, in King v Robinson, 033119. This is the lawsuit filed in March 2009 over the identity of the state officers of the American Independent Party. The activists in that party who support the national Constitution Party are seeking an injunction to prevent the other side from holding the party’s state convention until after the results of the June 8 primary are known.

California is one of the states in which primary elections help determine who a party’s officers are. In the code section covering the American Independent Party, the law says the party’s nominees for public office are automatically on the state central committee. Also, those nominees for public office may appoint other members to the State Central Committee. The AIP legal structure also provides for election of county central committees, but county central committee members are not automatically on the state central committee, as they are for California’s other ballot-qualified minor parties.

On June 1, the New York State Senate passed S3584B by a vote of 32-29. It lets municipalities use Instant Runoff Voting for their own elections if they wish, in 2011, 2012, and 2013. Here is the bill.

On June 4, the New Hampshire Secretary of State agreed to accept 276 signatures on petitions for the 2010 Libertarian Party statewide candidate petition that had been collected in 2009.

In 2009, the legislature had set a start date of January 1 of any election year, for candidate petitions. However, the Libertarian Party had already collected 276 signatures in 2009 when the bill was signed. For months now, the party has been trying to persuade the Secretary of State that it violates due process to refuse to accept signatures that, when they were collected, were legal. Thanks to Ken Blevens for this news. Blevens has been tireless, working for this outcome. The statewide petition needs 3,000 signatures and is due on August 4.