On June 1, Ralph Nader filed his brief on the merits in the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, on the issue of whether he should have been assessed $81,102.19 (plus interest) to pay for the costs of the procedure that removed him from the 2004 Pennsylvania ballot. Here is the brief. The brief itself is 26 pages. The case is still called In re Nomination Paper of Nader, 94 MAP 2008. The appendices include the opinion of the Commonwealth Court that refused to reconsider the issue, and all the evidence that had been submitted to the Commonwealth Court.

The brief is very strong and speaks for itself.

On June 1, the California Assembly passed AB 1121, the bill to let 10 general law cities or counties use Instant-Runoff Voting for their own elections. Thanks to Rob Dickinson for the news. The vote was 45-30.

San Jose, the 10th most populous city in the United States, is considering using Instant-Runoff Voting for its own elections. Since it is a charter city, under California law, it is free to do this if it wishes. The San Jose Elections Commission will discuss IRV at its June 10 meeting. On June 11, the New America Foundation and Common Cause are sponsoring a panel discussion about IRV, featuring two city council members, Sam Liccardo and Ash Kalra. It is between noon and 1:15 pm in room 225 of the Martin Luther King Jr. Public Library at 150 E. San Fernando Street in downtown San Jose. The meeting is free and lunch is furnished.

To implement IRV, the city council would need to place a charter amendment on the ballot. If San Jose were to implement IRV, it would be the most populous jurisdiction using IRV in the U.S. Thanks to Blair Bobier for this news.