On May 15, Colorado Governor Bill Ritter signed HB 1326 into law. It does not outlaw paying initiative petitioners per signature, but it provides that no more than 20% of any circulator’s compensation may be based on how many signatures that circulator collected.

The bill also contains a creative idea concerning out-of-state initiative circulators. The bill says that out-of-state circulators tend to immediately leave Colorado after they have finished work on any particular initiative petition. Therefore, it requires that such circulators must agree to make themselves available for an interview, if their work is challenged, although “available” includes via a telephone call. If the circulator refuses, his or her work is disqualified. However, the bill says that if the circulator had died or become incapacitated, and therefore is not available to answer questions, that circulator’s work does not get automatically disqualified.

On May 14, the California Assembly Appropriations Committee passed AB 909. It had previously passed the Assembly Elections Committee. It provides that at the polls on primary election day, elections officials must inform independent voters that they are free to choose the primary ballot of any party that has agreed to let independent voters vote in its primaries.

Currently, polling place officials are not supposed to tell independent voters that they are free to request a Republican ballot, or a Democratic ballot, or an American Independent ballot. The independent voter is supposed to know that already, but many do not know it.

The other qualified parties in California (Green, Libertarian, Peace & Freedom) do not permit independent voters to vote in their primaries. Also, the Republican Party lets independents vote in its primary for Congress and state office, but does not let them vote in its presidential primary.

The NAACP of Georgia is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to hear its case against Georgia’s law, requiring voters at the polls to show government photo-ID in order to vote. The case in the lower courts was called Common Cause/Georgia v Billups, but now it is called NAACP v Billups, no. 08-1231. Here is the brief filed with the U.S. Supreme Court.

The U.S. Supreme Court upheld Indiana’s photo-ID law on April 28, 2008, but the Indiana case had been filed with no voter-plaintiffs who lacked the needed ID. The Court said the law was constitutional on its face but left the door open to an as-applied challenge after the law had been used. By contrast, the Georgia NAACP case has two voter-plaintiffs who lack any government photo-ID. The Court hasn’t set a conference date yet, but is expected to set one in a few days.