On August 20, a U.S. District Court ruled that the Committee for a United Independent Party may intervene in the case Idaho Republican Party v Ysursa. That lawsuit is an attempt by the Idaho Republican Party to obtain a closed primary for itself. The Committee for a United Independent Party is headquartered in New York, and holds itself out to the public as a force for the rights of independent voters. As far as is known, this is the first time CUIP has participated in any constitutional election law litigation anywhere in the United States, although it actively lobbies state legislatures around the nation. For example, CUIP was very active earlier this year, opposing a bill in Missouri to move the petition deadline for independent candidates from July to March.

On August 22, the 2nd circuit struck down a New York state election law that says that absentee voters are not permitted to vote for Party County Committee Members. New York state elections officials send absentee voters a ballot that omits that office, but includes all the other offices that are on non-absentee ballots. The case is Price v New York State Board of Elections, 07-5367. The vote was 2-1. The dissenting judge thought that the law was only a trivial violation of the right to vote.

New York’s rationale for omitting Party County Committee elections from absentee ballots is that absentee ballots take longer to count than ordinary ballots, and the parties need to know very quickly who was elected to its county committees. However, since one of the co-plaintiffs in the case is the Republican Party of Albany County, that rationale wasn’t convincing to the two judges in the majority. Thanks to Bill Van Allen for this news.

The hearing for King vs. Bowen was held this morning in Sacramento. The case is to decide which faction of the California American Independent Party (AIP) has legal control of the state party, and therefore, which presidential ticket (Chuck Baldwin or Alan Keyes) will appear on the AIP line in California.

The judge promised to announce his decision by the end of today. Check Ballot Access News for the result.