On April 16, U.S. District Court Judge Richard Seeborg issued this 19-page order, denying a request that San Francisco be prohibited from using its version of Instant Runoff Voting in this year’s city elections. The case is Dudum v City and County of San Francisco, C10-504.

The plaintiffs had criticized San Francisco for letting voters choose only a first choice, a second choice, and a third choice. San Francisco limits voters to just three choices due to limitations imposed by technology. Plaintiffs had argued that limiting the voter to only three choices violates voting rights. Plaintiffs were represented by the Nielsen Merksamer law firm, the same law firm that represents the campaign to pass California’s Proposition 14, the “top-two” ballot measure on the ballot on June 8, 2010.

Judge Seeborg is an Obama appointee. He is the first federal judge appointed by President Obama to have issued an opinion in any lawsuit covered by this blog.

On April 16, the Las Vegas, Nevada Review-Journal published the results of a poll that the newspaper itself commissioned. The poll listed all eight candidates who will be on the ballot, which is rare for polls.

Assuming the Republicans nominate Sue Lowden, the poll shows these results: Harry Reid, Democrat, 37%; Sue Lowden, Republican, 47%, Tim Fasano, Independent American Party, 3%, Scott Ashjian, Tea Party, 2%. None of the four independents register at even 1%. 3% of the voters said they would vote, “None of the above.” Here are the details. Thanks to Glenn Brown for the link.

The poll separates the results for registered Democrats,

Thanks to Independent Political Report for this news. On April 15, a state court in Nevada ruled that Tea Party U.S. Senate candidate Scott Ashjian should remain on the ballot, even though he didn’t change his registration from “Republican” to “Tea” until one day after he filed for office. See this story.

The outcome may be appealed to the Nevada Supreme Court.