Boerne, Texas Considers Abandoning Cumulative Voting

Posted on by November 30, 2009
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Boerne, Texas, has been using Cumulative Voting for its city council elections since 1997. The city began using Cumulative Voting in response to a lawsuit that had been filed by the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC). Cumulative Voting is a system in which each voters gets, for example, three votes. That voter is free to give all three votes to one particular candidate, or spread the votes around to several candidates. The goal was to make it possible for Hispanics to win at least one seat. However, even with Cumulative Voting, no Hispanic has been on the Council since 2003.

LULAC says it would support going to single-member districts if a majority-Hispanic district could be drawn. See this story. Boerne is in central Texas and is 20% Hispanic.

December is the Month in Which Activists Should Find Sponsors for Legislative Bills

Posted on by November 30, 2009
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December is the prime month during which activists should look for state legislators to introduce bills in next year’s legislative sessions. More progress improving ballot access laws comes from persuading state legislators to ease these laws, than via lawsuits. But many states have very early deadlines for legislators to introduce bills. For example, in Indiana, all bills considered in 2010 must have been introduced by the first week in January 2010.

Vermont Debates an Earlier Primary

Posted on by November 30, 2009
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Although the Vermont legislature is not in session, Vermont state government officials are talking about whether to move the primary (for all office except president) from September, to August 24. See this story. Governor Jim Douglas favors asking the federal government for a waiver of the new federal law that is pushing the talk about a primary date change. The new federal law, which takes effect for the 2010 congressional primaries, tells states they must mail overseas absentee ballots no later than 45 days before the November election.

Georgia Ballot Case Has Hearing in Eleventh Circuit

Posted on by November 29, 2009
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The 11th circuit says it will hear oral arguments in Coffield v Handel during the period March 1-5. The court will set the exact date in a few weeks. This is the case in which Faye Coffield tried to get on the ballot as an independent candidate for U.S. House in 2008. Although no one has completed the Georgia petition requirement for that office since 1964, it has always been tough to get the issue into court, because generally the petition is so difficult, no one even tries.