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Texas House To Have New Speaker

Posted on January 8, 2009 by adminJanuary 8, 2009

Texas will have a new Speaker of the House of Representatives, when the legislature convenes next week. He is Joe Straus, age 49, who has only served two terms and has never been a committee chairman. The outgoing speaker, Tom Craddick, had been in the House since 1969. Republicans control the new House by a narrow margin (76-74) but not all Republicans were willing to re-elect Craddick.

It is not clear if having a new Speaker will make it easier to pass ballot access reform or not. If you are a Texan and have some insight into this, please comment. Texas drastically toughened ballot access in 1967.

Lower Court Rulings on Obama Eligibility are Starting to be Reported

Posted on January 7, 2009 by adminJanuary 7, 2009

At least two of the many lawsuits on whether Barack Obama meets the constitutional qualifications to be president are now reported. The Connecticut Supreme Court reported Wrotnowski v Bysiewicz at 958 A 2d 709 (decision of Nov. 3, 2008). And the U.S. District Court in Philadelphia reported Berg v Obama at 574 F.Supp.2d 509 (decision of Oct. 24, 2008). Both decisions had said the plaintiffs don’t have standing. “Reported” means the case was considered significant enough so that it should be printed in the West Lawbook Company’s books of court decisions. The company has enjoyed this responsibility since the 19th century.

9th Circuit Re-writes Decision on Registering Voters in Veterans Hospitals

Posted on January 7, 2009 by adminJanuary 7, 2009

Back on August 8, 2008, the 9th circuit had upheld Veterans Administration rules that prevented the Democratic Party from sending in volunteers to register voters who live in Veterans Administration Hospitals and Homes. The party then asked for a rehearing en banc.

On December 22, the request for a rehearing was denied, but the original decision was modified. Now, it only pertains to VA buildings in which all the residents have significant medical needs, and are likely to need medical attention at any instant. Also the decision was modified to make it clear that if any resident of a VA facility wishes to register voters in that same facility, that can only be settled by a new, different lawsuit.

7th Circuit Affirms Importance of All Valid Votes, Whether They Affect Who Wins or Not

Posted on January 7, 2009 by adminJanuary 7, 2009

On October 8, the 7th circuit handed down a decision in Kozuszek v Brewer, 546 F 3d 485. The issue was whether two particular voters should have been allowed to vote, back in November 2003. The U.S. District Court had ruled against the two voters, and had also added that “there is no evidence that any elected position in the election was decided by two or less votes”, implying that even if the two voters had been unjustly prevented from voting, so what?

The 7th circuit denied relief to the two voters, but it explicitly disagreed with the U.S. District Court’s philosophy. The 7th circuit wrote, “An official who willfully interferes with an individual’s ability to express his or her political preferences at the ballot box violates the Constitution.” This language will be helpful if and when any lawsuits are filed against jurisdictions that willfully refused to count valid write-in votes for president in last November’s election. Such lawsuits are likely to be filed against both the District of Columbia, and Pennsylvania.

Ohio Governor Vetoes Last Election Law Bill Passed by Outgoing Legislature

Posted on January 7, 2009 by adminJanuary 7, 2009

On the evening of January 6, Ohio Governor Ted Strickland vetoed SB 380, an election law bill passed by the outgoing legislature. It dealt with early voting procedures, and procedures for reconciling discrepancies in the voter registration database and other government databases (voter registration and Social Security records). Strickland said the issues are too complicated to have been dealt with in a bill that was rushed into passage before the old legislature adjourned.

As many readers already know, Ohio has no valid ballot access law for new political parties. The outgoing session of the Ohio legislature took the trouble to pass a bill dealing with voter registration, and yet not one state legislator introduced a bill on the gap in the state’s ballot access laws.