Lawsuit Filed to Increase Number of California Legislators

Posted on by December 4, 2008
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On December 1, a California voter filed a federal lawsuit, charging that the population of California legislative districts (the lower house in particular) is so vast, that Californians do not have true representation in either house of their state legislature. The lawsuit is filed in federal court and argues that the U.S. Constitution protects the ability of ordinary voters to have meaningful representation. It argues that given the 475,000 population of California Assembly districts, there is no real representation. The case is Warnken v Schwarzenegger, 2:08-cv-2891, eastern district (Sacramento). To read the complaint, which is very interesting and scholarly, see www.californiacommonwealth.com, or click here.

One of the interesting facts mentioned in the complaint is that California has 58 counties, but 42 of those counties do not have any resident in the lower house of the legislature.

Almost Half of Georgia November Voters Failed to Vote Again on December 2

Posted on by December 3, 2008
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On November 4, 2008, at least 3,924,432 Georgians voted (that is the number of votes cast for president). But on December 2, 2008, only 2,126,518 people cast a vote in the U.S. Senate runoff. The latter number is only 54% of the November turnout number.

The unofficial results for the U.S. Senate runoff so far are 1,220,873 for Republican incumbent Saxby Chambliss, and 905,645 for Democratic candidate Jim Martin.

Georgia also held a statewide runoff for Public Service Commissioner. On November 4 the results had been: Democratic 1,732,175; Republican 1,708,968; Libertarian 177,777. On December 2 the runoff results were: Republican 1,129,716; Democratic 870,203.

Petitioning Victory from 9th Circuit

Posted on by December 2, 2008
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On December 1, the 9th circuit issued its opinion in Dietrich v John Ascuaga’s Nugget, 06-17135. The issue was whether petitioning should still be allowed on public sidewalks, when a private organization has rented a public square that abuts those public sidewalks. The decision says that just because a private organization has taken temporary control (for a day, or a weekend) of a public space, that does not mean the public space is no longer available for First Amendment activity.

The decision acknowledges that the private organization may have an interest in making it plain that it is not associated with whatever individual or group is petitioning, but says if that is a concern, the private organization is free to post a sign saying it is not associated with the petitioning. In this case, the petitioners were working on a recall petition, and the public sidewalks and public square had been temporarily rented out to the “Best in the West Nugget Rib Cook-Off.” The decision commented that it was unlikely that any passerby would assume the recall petition is associated with the Cook-Off.

West Virginia Ballot Access Reform Bill

Posted on by December 2, 2008
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West Virginia Delegate Barbara Fleischauer (D-Morgantown) will introduce a bill in the 2009 session of the legislature to lower minor party and independent candidate petitions from 2% of the last vote cast, to 1%.

To bolster the case for the bill, she will use the decision in Barr v Ireland, in which a U.S. District Court upheld the existing law, but acknowledged that West Virginia is tied for having the 2nd-most restrictive law in the nation, for presidential candidates running outside the two major parties. West Virginia is tied with North Carolina. Each of those two states require a petition of 2% of the last vote cast in the preceding presidential election year. The only state that is more restrictive is Oklahoma, which requires a petition of 3% of the last vote cast in the preceding presidential election year. All other states have lower percentage requirements.