The Florida Green Party sued one of its own state legislative candidates back on September 24, 2008, to gain information on whether she paid her own filing fee, or whether possibly Republican Party campaign consultants may have paid it. A hearing is set for January 6, 2009, to decide if the party has a right to depose the candidate on how her filing fee was paid. The case is King v Roman, Pasco Co., 51-2008-ca-8091.

Five Greens ran for the Florida legislature this year, and none of them were individuals known to the Green Party. Since the legislature changed the law in 2007 to provide that all qualified parties nominate by primary, of course there was nothing to prevent any voter in the state from registering into the Green Party and filing in its primary. The Green Party suspects that the five legislative candidates who ran this year were all recruited by people associated with Republican Party campaigns.

According to this article in the Contra Costa Times, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger still favors bringing the “top-two” system to California, even though California voters rejected it in 2004, and even though Oregon voters rejected it 2-1 in last week’s election. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.

Texas State House member Joe Straus, Jr. (R-San Antonio) has just introduced a bill to abolish the straight-ticket device on general election ballots. There is no bill number yet. Republicans still have a majority in each house of the legislature, but it is not known if the Republican Party of Texas will support the bill. This news story about the bill says that almost half the voters of Bexar County (San Antonio’s County) used the straight-ticket device last week, and the article also says that 56% of the voters who used the device last week in Bexar County chose the Democratic Party’s device.

States that have abolished the straight-ticket device recently include New Hampshire, Illinois, and Missouri. Apparently 17 states, including Texas, still have them. Straight-ticket devices make it possible for voters to vote for all partisan offices without even looking at any part of the ballot except the very top. The devices are especially injurious to independent candidates. Thanks to Art DiBianca for the link.

This story is a reminder that bills are already being introduced in the Texas legislature for the 2009 session, and that ballot access reformers must act quickly if they are to get a ballot access bill introduced.