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Davenport, Iowa, Agrees to Allow Petitioning at Street Fairs

Posted on December 10, 2009 by Richard WingerDecember 10, 2009

Davenport, Iowa, holds an annual street fair, the Bix Street Fair. At the 2008 street fair, police refused to let Green Party petitioners collect signatures to get Cynthia McKinney on the ballot. The ACLU brought a lawsuit against this policy on June 26, 2009. On December 8, 2009, the city acknowledged that it had been mistaken, and promised to take steps so that its police officers know about the policy.

The city had earlier believed that it could and should prevent petitioning, because the street fair is technically run by a private organization, but the fair is on public property. The case is Bussiere v Davenport, 3:09-cv-101, U.S. District Court, southern district. This case was handled by the ACLU.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Story on U.S. Supreme Court and Confidentiality of Petition Signatures

Posted on December 9, 2009 by Richard WingerDecember 9, 2009

The December 9 issue of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer has this story about the pending decision of the U.S. Supreme Court over whether or not to hear Doe v Reed. That is the case over whether the names and addresses of people who sign petitions should be made public or not.

Ventura County Star Article Explains Details of California Redistricting Panel Selection

Posted on December 9, 2009 by Richard WingerDecember 9, 2009

The December 9 issue of The Ventura County Star has this interesting article on how ordinary citizens may apply to be on California’s redistricting commission. That body will draw the boundaries for legislative districts, after the 2010 census. Thanks to ElectionLawBlog for the link.

Los Angeles Supporter of Instant Runoff Voting Wins Spot on City Council

Posted on December 9, 2009 by Richard WingerDecember 9, 2009

Los Angeles has a 15-member city council. The city held a special election on December 8 to fill the vacant 2nd district seat. Assemblymember Paul Krekorian was elected. He has pledged to support Instant Runoff Voting for Los Angeles city elections. There will now be six members of the council who support IRV.

As a result of the election, there is now a vacancy in the California Assembly, which will be filled with a special election in the spring of 2010. The district is in the eastern San Fernando Valley.

In other California news about IRV, on December 8 the city council of San Leandro (in Alameda County) voted to postpone a decision on whether to use IRV for city elections until the Oakland city council makes a final decision on using IRV in its 2010 city elections. San Leandro is a charter city so it is free to use IRV for its own elections if it wishes to. The voters of San Leandro have never expressed themselves on the matter.

Arkansas Special State Senate Election Results

Posted on December 9, 2009 by Richard WingerDecember 9, 2009

On November 8, Arkansas held a special election to fill the vacant State Senate seat, 4th district. The results: Republican Mike Lamoureux 70.09%, Democratic John Burnett 21.30%, independent Tachany Evans 8.61%.

When this seat has last been filled, in November 2008, only a Republican had run. When only one person runs, Arkansas removes the office from the ballot and the person is deemed elected, so there are no election results from 2008 per se. The district is northwest of Little Rock, and is centered around Russellville.