The American Constitution Society for Law and Policy, and American University’s College of Law, will jointly sponsor a debate on the National Popular Vote Plan on November 17 (Tuesday), between noon and 2 p.m. Register to attend at this link. Arguing in favor of the Plan will be the plan’s chief advocate, John Koza, and Maryland State Senator Jaime Raskin, who sponsored the first National Popular Vote Plan bill in the nation that was signed into law. On the other side will be CATO’s John Samples, and Professor Alexander Belenky, author of “How America Elects its Presidents.” The debate will be at American University’s College of Law, 4801 Massachusetts Ave. NW, Washington DC. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.

On November 3, the voters of Hartford, Connecticut, elected four members to the School Board. No party is permitted to run more than three nominees. The expectation was that the Working Families Party would probably elect one member, as had happened in 2005. This is because the dominant Democratic Party was only permitted to run three nominees, so that the WFP would get one seat if the WFP nominee outpolled the most popular Republican nominee, or any independent candidate.

For the 2009 election, the WFP decided to run three nominees. Surprisingly, two of the Working Families nominees outpolled Democratic nominees and were elected. Furthermore, the margin for the third WFP nominee is so close that it is conceivable that a recount will show that all three of the Working Families nominees were elected. See this story.

The Hartford School Board only has four elected members, but it also has five appointed members. All five of the appointed members are Democrats, so no matter what the election results, the Democrats will still have a large majority.

On November 4, the 5th circuit heard arguments in Moore v Hosemann, 09-60272, the case that arose in 2008 when presidential elector declarations of candidacy for Brian Moore were turned in to the Mississippi Secretary of State at 5:10 p.m. The office was still open, but the Secretary of State said they were ten minutes too late. Brian Moore was the Socialist Party presidential candidate, although in Mississippi he had been nominated by the Natural Law Party, a ballot-qualified party.

Mississippi election laws do specify that 5 p.m. is the deadline for many other kinds of paperwork, but says nothing about 5 p.m. for anything concerning presidential elections. The Mississippi Secretary of State said he had his own regulation about that, but Article II of the U.S. Constitution says only state legislatures can write election procedures concerning presidential electors.

Judge Edith Jones seemed unsympathetic, but she might have been playing devils’ advocate. Judge Harold DeMoss seemed very interested in the case and asked tough questions for both sides. Judge Jerry Smith only asked about whether the case is moot.