On September 10, a poll was released for the upcoming special election to fill the vacant New York 23rd U.S. House district. It shows 30% for Republican Dede Scozzafava, 20% for Democrat Bill Owens, and 19% for Conservative Party nominee Doug Hoffman. The other 31% are undecided or favor someone else.
This poll was paid for by the Hoffman campaign. The special election date hasn’t even been set yet, because the incumbent still hasn’t resigned to take up his new job in the Obama administration.
Certain interesting election law bills in Congress have gained a few co-sponsors since Congress came back into session.
HR 2499, the bill to set up a vote on Puerto Rico’s future status, now has 164 co-sponsors, up one since last month.
HR 2894, Rush Holt’s bill for better vote-counting machines, now has 89 co-sponsors, up six since last month.
HR 3025, to require bipartisan commissions in each state to draw U.S. House boundaries, has not gained any co-sponsors since last month and still has 22.
HR 1826, non-discriminatory public funding for Congress, has 79 co-sponsors, two more since last month.
HR 1503, to require presidential candidates to furnish a birth certificate when they file as candidates with the Federal Election Commission, has eleven co-sponsors, one more than last month. The newest co-sponsor is Rep. Trent Franks, a Republican who has represented Arizona’s 2nd district since 2002.
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 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.
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.
