Although the U.S. Supreme Court issued two opinions on April 15, it did not release its opinion in the Indiana photo ID-case for voting at the polls. That decision could come out on April 16. If it doesn’t, the next possible date for it is April 21.
Missouri SB 797, which improves ballot access for new parties, has a hearing in the House Election Law Committee on April 15, in the late afternoon. The bill has already passed the Senate.
Missouri HB 1310, which moves independent candidate petition deadlines from late July to March, has received a “Do Pass” from the Senate Committee that handles election law bills. However, the bill has not been reported to the Senate floor. Sometimes Missouri bills pass Committee, but are still not sent on, because each committee is limited in the number of bills it may send to the floor.
On April 14, the Democratic National Committee filed a lawsuit against the Federal Election Commission, case no 1:08-cv-639, in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. The lawsuit is really directed at Senator John McCain, who has spent more than is permitted already, during the primary season, for candidates who accept primary season matching funds. McCain has said he is not bound by the limit because he never actually took primary season matching funds. But the Democratic complaint points out that he because he was eligible for them, he was able to get on the Delaware and Ohio presidential primary ballots without petitioning (the law exempts presidential primary candidates from petitioning if they are entitled to primary season matching funds).
The Democrats are suing the FEC to force the FEC to act against McCain. However, since the FEC only has two commissioners and four vacancies, it is without a quorum, so the lawsuit asks that the Democratic National Committee be given permission to sue McCain directly, since it is hopeless that the FEC can act. See their complaint here.
The Maine Senate had passed the “National Popular Vote Plan” for presidential elections on April 2 (LD 1744). However, on April 14, the House voted to postpone the bill indefinitely. Since the legislature will probably adjourn this month, it is unlikely that it can pass this year.
On April 11, Idaho Governor Butch Otter signed S.1514. It takes effect immediately. It says that if someone changes his name and then runs for office, the ballot will list both the candidate’s new name and the old name. The bill was introduced because Marvin Richardson had changed his name last year to “Pro-Life” and is running in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate. The primary is May 27. The ballot will now say, “Pro-Life, Formerly Known as Marvin Richardson.”
