The Massachusetts legislature adjourned for the year on November 21, and didn’t pass the National Popular Vote Plan, HB 678. However, Massachusetts has two-year legislative sessions, so the bill will get a House vote early in 2008. It has passed all committee hurdles.
Previous posts of November 7 and November 9 listed minor party members who had been elected to both partisan and non-partisan office on November 6, 2007. Those posts did not provide a complete listing, however. Additional winners are:
Constitution Party: Matt Curry for Lewiston, Utah town council.
Green Party: Hector Lopez and Erik Eisenberg won partisan elections for Constable in New Canaan, Connecticut; Sam Ettaro won a partisan election for Curwensville Boro, Clearfield County, Pennsylvania; Kathleen Harrigan won for Tri-County Soil and Water Commission in Fredericksburg, Virginia; Daniel Metraux won for Soil and Water Commission in Staunton, Virginia.
Libertarian Party: Bob Mills for Biddeford, Maine city council; John McAlister for Gahanna, Ohio city council; Ray Onrusek for Eastern Lebanon County, Pennsylvania School Board; David Owens for Landenberg Township, Pennsylvania Supervisor; and Bill Beeman for Waterford Township Auditor, Pennsylvania. The last three are partisan elections.
On September 11, 2007, Robert L. Schulz and many other voters filed a lawsuit in federal court, alleging that the U.S. Constitution requires reliable vote-counting methods. The lawsuit also alleges that only paper ballots, hand-counted, are truly reliable. The case is Schulz v State of New York, 1:07-cv-943-LEK, in the northern district of New York.
There have been other attempts to persuade courts to invalidate certain types of vote-counting machines, and they have generally not succeeded. Even sitting Congressman Robert Wexler’s lawsuit did not prevail. The Schulz lawsuit is somewhat notable because it is endeavoring to sue elections officials in all 50 states. There are 150 voter-plaintiffs, three from each state. For more information about this lawsuit, see www.electionguardians.org, or www.votefraud.org. Robert L. Schulz was the New York Libertarian gubernatorial candidate in 1994. In 1994 he won a lawsuit in federal court, requiring New York to give the list of registered voters to the unqualified parties on the same basis that the state provided the list to the qualified parties.
The Michigan House of Representatives will meet on Monday, November 26, and may pass a bill that alters whose names should be on the Democratic presidential primary. If no action is taken, leading Democrats such as John Edwards and Barack Obama will not permit their names to be on the Michigan Democratic presidential primary ballot. The legislature has a bill to put contenders on the ballot automatically, unless they swear they are not running for president. If that bill passed, the list of candidates would grow.
The uncertainty over which names will be on the ballot is preventing Michigan elections officials from printing the ballots, and already the state has violated federal law by not preparing and mailing such ballots to overseas absentee voters. There is still a possibility that the Michigan Democratic Party will decide to use a caucus and cancel its primary. If a caucus is used, no one knows what the date will be.
The U.S. Supreme Court has been asked to hear Davis v Federal Election Commission, 07-320. This case challenges the part of the McCain-Feingold law that gives fund-raising advantages to congressional candidates who have opponents who give more than $650,000 to their own campaigns. The November 22 syndicated George F. Will column boosts the lawsuit, and attacks that part of the McCain-Feingold law, which is commonly referred to as the “Millionaires’ Amendment”. See it here. Thanks to Rick Hasen.
