The Los Angeles Times has this op-ed, by former Republican Assembly leader Robert Naylor. Naylor argues against a proposal that California should abolish one of its state legislative chambers.
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Every month, the Gallup Organization releases a poll, asking voters if they identify as Republicans, as Democrats, or as others. If they respond “other”, they are asked if they lean toward either the Democratic or the Republican Party. Here are the August results: Democrats 34%, leading to the Democratic Party, 11%, Republicans 28%, leaning Republican 12%, other 15%.
The “Other” figure was at 13% in January and February, at 14% in March, May and June, and at 15% in the other months of 2009. Thanks to PoliticalWire for this news.
On September 2, the District of Columbia Board of Elections transferred the case Libertarian Party v D.C. Board of Elections from the D.C. court system, to a U.S. District Court. The case is now civil action no. 09-5836, before Judge Emmet G. Sullivan, a Clinton appointee.
The issue in the case is whether the D.C. Board of Elections should have tallied the write-in votes for Bob Barr last November. Barr had filed as a declared write-in presidential candidate and submitted names of presidential elector candidates, but the Board simply announced that a total of 1,138 miscellaneous write-ins had been cast for president, and didn’t say how many were for Barr.
The U.S. Constitution protects the right of a voter to have his or her valid vote counted. U.S. District Court Judge Richard Roberts (of D.C.) wrote in 1999 in Turner v D.C. Board of Elections, “When a citizen steps into the voting booth to cast a vote, he or she intends to send a message in support of or in opposition to the candidate or measure at issue…The message of the vote is received when the election results are released thereby completing an important communication by the public to the government…the result of votes properly cast in a properly conducted election are core political speech…To cast a lawful vote only to be told that that vote will not be counted or released is to rob the vote of any communicative meaning whatsoever.”
Also relevant is Bush v Gore, which says, “Having once granted the right to vote on equal terms, the state may not, by disparate treatment, value one person’s vote over that of another.”
On September 2, a Washington state Superior Court rejected a lawsuit brought to settle the validity of the Referendum-71 petition. The court said such a case can only be filed 5 days after the Secretary of State has certified a petition, and must be filed in Olympia, not Seattle. Here is the 9-page decision. The case will be refiled in Olympia next week.
The issues are whether circulators must sign each petition sheet; and whether voters must be registered at the time they sign the petition or whether they can register later (but before the petitions are checked).
The U.S. Court of Appeals, 9th circuit, will hear a case against Arizona’s policy of not permitting ex-felons to register to vote if they still owe fees, fines, or restitution, on October 19. The case is Coronado v Napolitano, 08-17567. The lower court had upheld the law. The hearing will be in Tempe, Arizona.