On June 30, a U.S. District Court held a hearing in Judge v Quinn, the case over whether Illinois must hold a special U.S. Senate election on November 2, 2010, to fill the last two months of the U.S. Senate seat that became vacant when President Obama resigned from the U.S. Senate. The judge indicated he will issue an opinion in the next three weeks. See this story.
On June 28, California SB 1203 was placed on the inactive file in the Assembly. This probably means the bill is dead. The bill required petition circulators to wear badges, saying whether they are paid or not, and also saying what county the circulator is registered in. If the circulator was not a registered voter, the badge would give that information also.
This Washington Post story says many influential West Virginians are talking about holding a special election to fill U.S. Senator Robert Byrd’s seat this November.
The June 29 issue of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution has this op-ed by Chris Valley, criticizing the Georgia ballot access laws for statewide independents. The op-ed does not mention that the law for independent candidates for district and county office is even worse. Valley supports Brad Bryant, the independent candidate for State School Superintendent.
On June 14, 2010, the national convention of the League of Women Voters, meeting in Atlanta, endorsed the National Popular Vote Plan. The plan, if implemented, would result in the election of the presidential candidate who had received the most popular votes in the entire nation.
