Former Connecticut Governor (also former U.S. Senator) Lowell Weicker is a witness in the pending lawsuit against Connecticut’s “Clean Elections” law. The Green and Libertarian Parties are suing to overturn the aspects of the law that treat Democratic and Republican nominees far better than other candidates. Weicker participated in a deposition in this lawsuit, on April 2.
On April 2, the California Senate Education Committee passed SB 1322, by a vote of 6-1. It removes an old unconstitutional law that makes it impossible for a member of the Communist Party to be hired as a public school teacher. Although this is not an election law bill, it has election law implications. If this bill is signed into law, it will probably be possible to pass another California bill in the near future, to delete election laws that bar Communists from running from office, and ban “subversive” parties from the ballot. As noted in an earlier post, only five states besides California have such laws still on the books.
On April 2, the Maine Senate passed LD 1744, the National Popular Vote Plan. The vote was 18-17. The same bill had been voted on in the Senate on March 10, but at that time, one Senator was absent, and the bill had failed to pass since that vote had been 17-17.
On March 28, the Idaho House passed S1514 by a vote of 64-2. This is the bill that says if a candidate changes his or her name before running for office, the ballot should list not only that candidate’s current name, but the candidate’s prior name. This bill was introduced because one of the candidates running for U.S. Senate in this year’s Republican primary legally changed his name to “Pro-Life” last year.
The two legislators who voted “No” are Steven Thayn, a Republican, and Branden Durst, a Democrat.
New Mexico holds a Republican presidential primary on June 3, although no other party will have a New Mexico presidential primary. Names on the Republican ballot are Mike Huckabee, John McCain, and Ron Paul.
