The California Republican Party holds a statewide meeting in Riverside County, September 25-27. The meeting will consider a change in the party rules, a change that has been rejected by the party repeatedly during the last decade. The proposed change would say that independent voters could no longer vote in the party’s non-presidential primaries for public office.

If the party votes for this exclusionary change, it might be required to seek the approval of the U.S. Justice Department. California is partially covered under section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, because Monterey, Kings, Merced and Yuba Counties are covered. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Lopez v Monterey County, 525 US 266 1999) that a state that is partially covered by section five is, in effect, wholly covered. And the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Morse v Republican Party of Virginia, 517 US 186 (1994) that section 5 of the Voting Rights Act covers political party rules changes, when that rules change affects who can vote in a party nomination procedure. Recently, the 5th circuit depended on the Morse decision to say that the Texas Democratic Party must get approval from the Justice Department before changing its rules on presidential caucuses.

Cleveland, Ohio, held a non-partisan primary for City Council on September 8. In ward 14, seven candidates competed. Coming in first was Brian Cummins, who is associated with the Green Party (although this is difficult to nail down objectively, because Ohio voter registration forms do not ask voters to choose a party). In second place was Rick Nagin, a member and leader of the Communist Party who writes for the party’s newspaper, the Peoples Weekly World. Nagin was endorsed by Congressman Dennis Kucinich. Because neither received as much as 50%, the two will face off in a run-off on November 3.

Coming in third was the incumbent councilmember in the 14th district, Joe Santiago. The votes were: Cummins 539, Nagin 393, Santiago 265, and four other candidates received 222, 153, 27, and 20 votes. The 14th ward is 48% Hispanic. Cummins is already on the city council, but representing another district. The city recently redistricted itself and decreased the number of council districts from 21 to 19, so the old districts don’t really exist any more. Thanks to Green Party Watch for this news. Here is an article about Nagin, written shortly before the election.

The September 9 issue of the Idaho Statesman has this commentary on the upcoming trial in the lawsuit filed by the Republican Party to win a closed primary for itself. Idaho now has a classic open primary, in which no voter is asked to choose a party on the voter registration form. Idaho Republicans want to institute a system in which voters register by party.