On April 29, U.S. District Court Judge Alan B. Johnson, a Reagan appointee, ruled that Fremont County, Wyoming, is violating the federal Voting Rights Act by electing its five county commissioners at-large. The population of Fremont County includes 19.9% who are Native Americans. Yet no Native American has ever been elected to the Fremont County Commission. Large v Fremont County, 05-cv-270. The case had been filed in 2005 and the trial had been in 2007. UPDATE: here is the 102-page opinion.

The county had tried to defend its at-large elections by asserting that the Voting Rights Act is unconstitutional.

At 5:30 pm at a St. Petersburg, Florida outdoor rally, Florida Governor Charlie Crist said he will run as an independent candidate this year for U.S. Senate. See this AP story.

The press in Delaware has noticed that one town in northern Delaware, Delaware City, does not permit voters to vote in town elections unless they have “currently paid all city taxes, fees, charges, liens and debts that are due.” See this story. The town held its most recent election on April 6, 2010.

The town’s policy appears to violate several U.S. Supreme Court decisions. In 1966, the Court said in Harper v Board of Elections that “A state violate the Equal Protection Clause whenever it makes the affluence of the voter or payment of any fee an electoral standard.” There were also 3 decisions in 1969 which struck down local laws restricting the franchise to people who own property.