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.

On April 3, the Alabama Republican State Committee ruled that Charles McCallum may not appear on the party’s primary ballot for State House, 47th district. The reason is that in the past he has contributed money to some Democratic candidates.

On April 7, McCallum said that he will be an independent candidate for that seat. See this story. In the last election for this seat, in November 2006, the incumbent Republican, Jack Williams, was unopposed. Williams is running for re-election, and it appears that McCallum will be his only opponent in November 2010, assuming McCallum gets on the ballot.