As noted earlier, U.S. Senator Bill Nelson earlier this month introduced SJR 4, a proposed constitutional amendment to elect the president directly by popular vote. The same proposal has been introduced in the U.S. House by Congressman Gene Greene (D-Tx). It is HJR 9.

The Congressional Delegates from the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, and American Samoa have introduced HJR 2, another proposed constitutional amendment. It says, “The right of citizens of the United States to vote in the election for President and Vice President shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of residency in a territory or commonwealth of the United States. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.” This proposed amendment is badly worded. There is no election for President and Vice President mentioned in the U.S. Constitution, unless one is referring to the vote of the electoral college, or actions by Congress when the electoral college fails to elect a president or vice-president. Furthermore, this proposed amendment says nothing about presidential electors. When the Constitution was amended to let residents of the District of Columbia participate in presidential elections, that amendment specified how many electoral votes D.C. would have.

HR 59, by Representative Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-Tx) would forbid states from disenfranchising ex-felons, in federal elections.

S48, by Senator John Ensign (R-Nev.) would outlaw all vote-counting equipment that does not create a paper trail, if it is purchased by election administrators after December 31, 2012. Thanks to Electionline Weekly for this news.

On January 22, Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson said that he will not appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, in the case over whether the U.S. Constitution protects the right of out-of-state circulators to work on Oklahoma initiative petitions. He also said he is dropping criminal charges against Paul Jacob, Susan Johnson, and Rick Carpenter. They had been charged with conspiring to bring in out-of-state initiative circulators.

It will be interesting to see if a bill is introduced in the upcoming session of the Oklahoma legislature to repeal the ban on out-of-state initiative circulators.

On January 21, the Israeli High Court of Justice restored two political parties to the ballot for the upcoming national elections. See this story. The two parties, United Arab List-Ta’al and Balad, had earlier been banned from the ballot because they advocate separation of church and state.