The Nevada National Popular Vote Plan bill, AB 413, cannot become law this year. Although it passed the Assembly on April 21, and has never been defeated in the Senate, it didn’t move through any Senate committee fast enough to meet the legislative deadlines.
The May 28 issue of the Lake Forester (the daily newspaper of Lake Forest, Illinois) has this editorial, criticizing the legislature for retaining the state’s primary in February.
No state has ever had its congressional primary that early in a mid-term year. Illinois SB 46, co-sponsored this year by eight State Senators, would have moved the 2010 primary to June, but it failed to make any progress, and the legislature is close to adjournment.
On May 27, as noted below, the Louisiana Committee on House and Governmental Affairs heard an hour’s testimony about HB 776, the bill to eliminate congressional primaries for small qualified parties. As noted below, the bill was defeated after two Louisiana Libertarians, and one Louisiana Green, and members of the NAACP and College Republicans testified against the bill. This interesting hearing can be watched by using this link. Scroll down to “May 27” and “House & Gov.” HB 776 is the second bill. The discussion of the first bill takes the first 30 minutes, so if you only wish to hear the testimony on HB 776, skip the first 30 minutes.
On May 26, the Connecticut House passed HB 6435, to let people register to vote at the polls on election day. Such voters would need to show a drivers license or a utility bill, confirming their address. Now the bill goes to the Senate.
On May 26, U.S. District Court Judge Robert L. Vining upheld Georgia’s ballot access law for independent candidates for U.S. House. Coffield v Handel, 1:08-cv-2755. The 3-page decision is here. It says that the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the same law in 1971 in Jenness v Fortson.
The decision does not mention the fact that the law is so strict, no independent candidate for U.S. House has completed the 5% petition since 1964, and back then, all congressional districts fit within county boundaries, so it was much easier to get high validity rates for district petitions (signers generally know what county they live in, but not which congressional district they live in). The decision does not mention any other U.S. Supreme Court decision.
The decision does not acknowledge that the reason the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Georgia law in 1971 was that statewide 5% petitions had succeeded in Georgia in both 1966 and 1968. The decision does not mention three later U.S. Supreme Court decisions that say lower courts should invalidate ballot access requirements if the record shows that virtually no one ever meets those requirements. Faye Coffield will appeal to the 11th circuit.
