Theresa Amato’s book, “Grand Illusion: the Myth of Voter Choice in a Two-Party Tyranny”, released this month, has received praise from both Congressman Ron Paul, and Pat Choate (Ross Perot’s running mate in 1996).

Congressman Paul wrote a letter on June 4, in which he said, “Theresa Amato has experienced the unfairness of our system like few others. Her new book is an important contribution that anyone serious about ballot access reform should read.”

Pat Choate reviewed the book on Amazon.com on June 16. He said, “This beautifully written, fast-paced, thoroughly-documented book brings a message about a vital problem – the corrupt two-party dominance of our democracy – that the American people urgently need to understand and correct…The Grant of the Pulitzer Prize or a National Book Award to Theresa Amato would be both appropriate and an assured way of putting this issue before the American people. The book merits either or both of those prizes.”

On June 18, the Park District Commission in Mattituck, New York, voted to let all registered voters in the village vote on the District’s budget. See this story. Previously, only property owners could vote on the budget. In 1969, the U.S. Supreme Court had ruled 6-3 that, generally, governments that hold elections must let all registered voters vote. The case was Kramer v Union Free School District, and it struck down a New York law that only property owners, and parents of students attending public schools, and people who lease their residence, are permitted to vote in School Board elections. The Kramer case is a leading precedent for the idea that the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th amendment confers a general right to vote, at instances in which the government is already permitting an election of some type.

If the Mattituck Board had not acted, it faced a lawsuit by a disenfranchised voter.

This blog has mentioned the two state gubernatorial elections being held in November 2009, but it has not previously mentioned that the Northern Mariana Islands, a Commonwealth of the United States in the northern Pacific, also holds a gubernatorial election this year. The election is on Saturday, November 7. The term is 4 years. At the last gubernatorial election, in 2005, the nominee of the Covenant Party, Benigno Fitial, narrowly won a 4-candidate race. The 2005 results were: Covenant Party 28.1%, Independent candidate Heinz Hofschneider 27.3%, Republican nominee Juan Babauta 26.6%, Democratic nominee Froilan Tenorio 18.0%.

The Covenant Party incumbent is running for re-election. The Republican Party will choose its gubernatorial nominee in an open primary on June 27. The Democratic Party is not running anyone for Governor, but there will be at least one independent candidate.

The Covenant Party does not appear to have a webpage, but according to two webpages that have information about the party, D.C.’s Political Report and wikipedia, the party stands for populism, environmentalism and neoliberalism. The party won 4 seats in the House (out of 20 seats) in 2007, down from 7 seats in the 2005 election. Here is a newspaper story about the Covenant’s recent campaign rally on the island of Tinian, which featured a motorcade of over 300 vehicles.

The Covenant Party did not participate in the November 2008 election that elected the Commonwealth’s first non-voting Delegate to Congress. At that election, independent Gregorio Sablan defeated his Republican and Democratic opponents and five other independent candidates. Sablan is listed in the Congressional Directory as an independent, but he has joined the Democratic caucus.

The Northern Mariana Islands had 13,848 registered voters in 2008. In the 2005 gubernatorial race, a total of 13,517 votes were cast.