On April 23, the U.S. Supreme Court will consider whether to review Simmons v Galvin, 09-920. This is the case from Massachusetts over whether the federal Voting Rights Act has any relevance to state laws that bar ex-felons or felons from registering to vote. In the First Circuit, the 3-judge panel had voted 2-1 that Congress never intended the Voting Rights Act to have any relevance to that issue.

However, on January 5, 2010, the 9th circuit ruled 2-1 that the Voting Rights Act does apply to that issue. That case is Farrakhan v Gregoire. Because there is now a split in the circuits on the issue, it is considered somewhat likely that the U.S. Supreme Court will hear Simmons v Galvin.

Every county in California elects county supervisors by district, except for San Mateo County, which elects them at-large (however, the county is divided into 5 districts, and the law requires that one board member must live in each of the 5 districts). On April 7, the county’s Charter Review Commission held a hearing on whether to use another type of system. See this story about the hearing in the San Mateo Daily Journal. The story does not mention that there was testimony in favor of using proportional representation.

On April 7, a California Superior Court Judge reaffirmed his tentative ruling of March 19, in Ni v Slocum. The issue is whether electronic signatures are valid on petitions to qualify an initiative. See this story. The Judge on March 19 had tentatively ruled against electronic signatures, and now he has made his ruling permanent. Plaintiffs will appeal. Thanks to Christina Tobin for the link.