Three election law bills in the U.S. House of Representatives have gained co-sponsors since November 24. HR3957, to require states to permit same-day voter registration in federal elections, has gained four new co-sponsors and now has fourteen.
HR1826, for public funding for congressional elections, has gained two and now has 119 co-sponsors.
HR3025, to require states to use bipartisan redistricting commissions for U.S. House, has gained one and now has 24 co-sponsors.
On December 4, the California Secretary of State certified vote-counting equipment that is already being used in Alameda County, California, for the purpose of letting the city of Oakland use Instant Runoff Voting for its own city elections. See this story. The voters of Oakland voted to use IRV in 2006, so they have been waiting a long time. There will now be only one round of city elections in Oakland, to be held in November 2010.
Only charter cities in California may use IRV for their own elections. But, Oakland is a charter city.
Alaska publishes updated voter registration data every month. The data published on December 4, 2009, has a new feature. It includes voter registration data by age group as well as by political party.
The biggest age group in general is the 45-54 group. There are more registered Democrats, more registered Republicans, and more registered members of the Alaskan Independence Party in this age group than in any other age group.
But the 25-34 age group is the biggest age group for each of the other parties that the state tracks. That is true for each of these parties: Libertarian, Republican Moderate, Green, and Veterans Parties. See the chart here.
On December 4, U.S. District Court Judge Joseph Bianco heard oral arguments in MacKay v Crews, a lawsuit involving the identity of the national Reform Party officers. The case was heard in Central Islip, Long Island, New York. He will accept further written evidence and arguments, which must be submitted by December 8. He promised to rule by December 11.
From Independent Political Report comes this news, that Nick Taiber was elected to the City Council of Cedar Falls, Iowa, on December 1. He is a member of the Iowa Libertarian Party executive committee, and he is a registered Libertarian.
Cedar Falls has a population of 36,000, and is home to the University of Northern Iowa. All city elections in Iowa are non-partisan.
