On August 1, Bill Van Allen filed his appeal brief in the 2nd circuit, in Van Allen v Cuomo, 07-3118. This is the lawsuit that challenges New York’s unique law that when a registered voter changes his or her registration to join a party, the change does not take effect until the following year. Yet, if someone who is not registered to vote newly registers, that person is permitted to join a party and have that membership take effect immediately. The U.S. District Court had upheld the law last month. The case is being expedited, since Van Allen seeks to vote in the September 2007 primary of the party he joined, which is the Independence Party.

New York and New Hampshire both held special elections on July 31 to fill empty seats in the lower house of the state legislature.

In New York, George Amedore, nominee of the Republican and Conservative Parties, polled 13,666 votes. Edward Kosiur, nominee of the Democratic, Independence, and Working Families Parties, polled 10,855 votes. A breakdown of the number of votes on each party line will be posted here when it is known. The seat was the 105th Assembly district, which had been represented by a Democrat for the past 24 years.

In New Hampshire, Democrat James Webber defeated Republican Frank Palazzo by 724 to 638, in the Rockingham County 14th State House district. The seat had previously been held by a Democrat. The race was notable because of the age of the two contenders. Webber is 75 and Palazzo is 90. When asked about his age during the campaign, Palazzo had said, “I feel less than 70 right now. I have the experience my opponent doesn’t have.”

On July 31, Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski signed HB 2082. It makes it more difficult for initiatives to get on the ballot. Paid circulators may not work until they have completed a government class. Paid circulators must use different colored petitions than those used by unpaid circulators. There are a host of other new regulations, all of which make the process more cumbersome. The bill was sponsored by Secretary of State Bill Bradbury.