On April 24, the New York state Libertarian Party held its statewide convention and nominated Warren Redlich for Governor. UPDATE: see this article in the Albany Times-Union.
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The April 24 issue of the Boston Globe has this op-ed, in favor of Instant-Runoff Voting. The piece is by Adam Friedman, of Citizens for Voter Choice, the Massachusetts organization that works for IRV.
The op-ed makes reference to a special primary election held on April 13, to choose the Democratic Party nominee in a special election to be held May 11. Massachusetts State Senate districts don’t have district numbers; they have names. This particular district is the “Middlesex, Suffolk & Essex District”, and it is vacant because the State Senator elected to that seat in 2008 resigned early this year.
On April 22, the Hawaii legislature’s conference committee for HB 2397 hammered out a final version of the bill. It moves the primary from mid-September to mid-August, and takes effect in 2011. The petition to qualify a new political party moves from early April to early March.
On April 23, the Republican National Committee filed this request with the U.S. Supreme Court, asking the Court to hear Republican National Committee v Federal Election Commission. The case concerns the limit of $30,400 on how much individuals may contribute to an FEC-recognized political party.
The party is not asking that the limit be totally invalidated, just that it be invalidated when the money is going for activities that have nothing to do with federal candidates. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.
On March 8, New York U.S. House member Eric Massa resigned from his position. He had been elected from the 29th district in November 2008. That is the district in the southwestern corner of the state. Massa was a Democrat.
Since then, New York officials have said they will leave the seat empty until it can be filled in November 2010, because a special election would cost too much money. Under the Constitution, a House seat cannot be filled in any way except by a vote of the people. See this story, which says that a lawsuit to force a special election will be filed next week.