The May 11 issue of the Oregonian, the largest newspaper in Oregon, contains this editorial, asking the legislature to pass SB 326. SB 326 would make it possible for primary voters to sign an independent candidate petition.

The editorial support is welcome. Oregon and Texas are the only states in which primary voters can’t sign an independent candidate petition (also, Nebraska primary voters can’t sign for an independent presidential candidate, but they can sign for independent candidates for other office). If Oregon repeals its restriction, that will not only help independent candidates in Oregon, but may make it easier to bring the issue up in Texas. The Oregonian editorial does have some factual errors, but nevertheless the existence of the editorial is encouraging. Thanks to Dan Meek for the news.

On May 4, U.S. District Court Judge Lawrence E. Kahn, of Albany, released a scheduling order in the lawsuit Schulz v Kelleher, 1:07-cv-943. There will be a jury trial starting September 20, 2010. The lawsuit, filed on September 12, 2007, argues that the Constitution protects a voter’s right to have his or her vote counted. The lawsuit also alleges that there is no satisfactory protection for this right unless all steps of the vote-counting process are done in public. It also alleges that, therefore, all ballots must be hand-marked and hand-counted in public. See the complaint here. The lawsuit only deals with New York voting procedures. The original complaint had voters from all states, and sued all states, but all states except New York were dismissed from the lawsuit in 2008. Therefore, the vast majority of plaintiffs and defendants are no longer in the case. Thanks to Bill Van Allen for this news.

Great Britain counts all its votes in public, on ballots marked by hand. There is a single place within each House of Commons district in which that district’s ballots are counted, and it is open to the public during the vote-counting process.

This year, the Democratic Party of Charlottesville, Virginia, is using Ranked-Choice voting to choose party nominees for city council and sheriff. See this article. Thanks to Steve Rankin for the link.