Bill De Blasio, New York city councilmember who is trying to get on the Democratic primary in September 2009 for New York City Public Advocate, has won a rehearing in the City Board of Elections. It is set for 1:30 pm on Tuesday, July 28. The Board removed him because his cover sheet says he submitted 131 volumes of petitions, but actually he submitted 132 volumes.

The Board of Elections is in a difficult spot. On the one hand the law is obviously foolish to keep a candidate off the ballot for such a trivial error, especially since he might win the primary if he is on the ballot. On the other hand, the law (unwise though it is) is clear, and if the Board grants him an exemption, it knows that it won’t be able to keep candidates off in the future if they make entry errors on their cover sheets. De Blasio has already filed a lawsuit against the Board of Elections, which will be pursued if the Board doesn’t put him on the ballot. No one seems to have thought about whether De Blasio would be willing to be a write-in candidate if he is ultimately kept off the September primary ballot.

UPDATE: the lawsuit will be heard Monday, August 3, unless the Board puts him back on the ballot. The case is De Blasio v Board of Elections, state supreme court, Manhatten, 09-1105-09.

On March 16, 2009, the faction of the American Independent Party of California allied with Chuck Baldwin filed a lawsuit to win a ruling that its state officers are the legal state officers. That faction sued the faction of the party allied with Alan Keyes. The case is King v Robinson, Solano County Superior Court 033119.

That case has moved slowly because the defendants have been avoiding being served. However, courts do have procedures to handle that impediment, and those procedures are underway. The case has a status conference on October 19, 2009. Thanks to Mark Seidenberg for the news of the status conference.

The California legislature, having passed a budget, has gone on a three-week recess. When legislators return on August 17, they will face many election law bills:

1. Three bills on the indirect initiative, SCA 16, ACA 13, and SCA 10. All three have passed policy committees in one house and are in one or the other of the Appropriations Committees.
2. AB 1396, a bill to deregulate the internal organization of the Democratic Party, is three-fourths of the way through the legislature but is still awaiting party-desired amendments.
3. AB 1121, which has passed the Assembly and is in the Senate Appropriations Committee, would let 10 non-charter cities or counties use Instant Runoff voting for their own elections.
4. AB 308, which has passed the Assembly and is in the Senate Appropriations Committee, would let foreign absentee voters use a type of Instant Runoff Voting in elections in which there is a possibility of a run-off if no one gets 50% in the first round.
5. SB 34, which is ready to receive a vote on the Assembly floor, would outlaw paying initiative circulators on a per-signature basis.
6. AB 909, which has passed the Assembly and is in the Senate Appropriations Committee, would provide that independent voters must be told at the primary polling place that they may choose a Democratic, Republican or American Independent primary ballot.
7. AB 6, which has passed the Assembly and and all Senate Committees, would require anyone who pays initiative circulators to register with the Secretary of State.