On September 10, New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg announced that he favors election law reform in New York state. See his press release here.

On ballot access, he did not suggest any improvements for candidates petitioning for the November ballot. But he did suggest a reduction in the number of signatures for candidates seeking a place on a partisan primary ballot. He suggests that the number of signature be cut in half, and that independent voters be allowed to circulate primary petitions, and also to sign them.

He also proposes that voting be conducted on weekends, both Saturday and Sunday. This is a very expensive idea for taxpayers, because it would require that election administrators pay rent on polling places for two days instead of one day, and also that polling place officials be paid for two days work, not one day’s work. A better alternative would be no-excuse absentee voting, so that any voter inconvenienced by having to vote on Tuesday could vote by mail or vote in person at an elections office during the weeks before an election.

The voters of Santa Fe, New Mexico, voted in March 2008 to use Instant Runoff Voting for their own city elections, starting in March 2010. However, although the city’s vote-counting equipment isn’t yet up to the task. The Santa Fe Reporter for September 8 has this article about the problem.

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.