On June 3, U.S. District Court Judge John P. Bailey, a Bush Jr. appointee, ruled that a West Virginia regulation that requires a permit for “solicitation” in West Virginia state parks, state forests, and state wildlife management areas, is unconstitutional. Constitution Party of West Virginia v Jezioro, 2:08-cv-61. Thanks to Independent Political Report for this news. UPDATE: here is the decision. It is possible the regulation would have survived if it did not give unbridled discretion to parks officials on whether to grant the permit or not.

In 2007, when the Constitution Party was petitioning to get its presidential and gubernatorial candidates on the ballot, its petitioners were barred from Stonewall Jackson Lake State Park. The party filed the lawsuit in 2008. The Rutherford Institute represented the Constitution Party.

Krist Novoselic, well-known musician and also prominent activist for Instant Runoff Voting, has filed to run for County Clerk of Wahkiakum County this year. See this story in the blog of Spokane’s daily newspaper, the Spokesman-Review. What makes this item especially newsworthy is that he has chosen the ballot label “Prefers Grange Party.”

County executive positions in Washington state are traditionally partisan, so county elections are now under the “top-two” system, in which candidates may “prefer” any name they wish. The Secretary of State’s bill earlier this year, that would have confined labels to groups that submitted a petition, did not pass, so anyone is free to run for partisan office in Washington with any “preference” the person wishes.

The Grange is the major force in favor of “top-two” in Washington state, and financed the 2004 initiative that resulted in “top-two” being in effect in Washington, starting in 2008. There is no indication of what the Grange thinks about Novoselic’s “party preference”. Novoselic is an official of the Grange in Wahkiakum County, yet in actuality, he is a Democrat who does not fully support “top-two”, as the article explains. Thanks to Kelly Haughton for the link. See Haughton’s blog post about this here.

The Connecticut legislature adjourned on June 3, without having passed any interesting election law bills. The National Popular Vote Plan bill (HB 6437), as well as election-day registration (HB 6435), had both passed the House. But the Senate didn’t pass either bill. The ballot access bill, HB 6436, never made any headway after its hearing back on February 18.