On July 11, the North Carolina legislature passed H91. It lets voters register as late as 3 days before any election, as long as they go to their own county’s early voting location. Thanks to Rick Hasen for this news.
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On July 11, 71 activists and officers in the Idaho Republican Party filed a lawsuit, arguing that Idaho’s open primary is unconstitutional as applied to a political party that wants a closed primary. The case is Beck v Ysursa, no. 07-299, U.S. District Court.
The Idaho Republican Party itself is not a co-plaintiff. However, the State Central Committee did pass a resolution on June 17, 2006, in favor of an open primary for the state party. Also the co-plaintiffs include fifteen members of the State Central Committee. The complaint is a class action, in which the “class” are all Republicans in Idaho. This aspect of the case (unusual in election law constitutional cases) may result in the Idaho Republican Party itself being forced to intervene. If that happens, the party itself will need to take a position. See here for the complaint.
An earlier post mentioned that a leading newspaper chain had written an article about Pennsylvania Democrats trying to attach Ralph Nader’s bank account. Here is the full version of that story, along with many passionate comments from people who read the CommonDreams site. Thanks to Ross Dreyer for this link.
In a whimsical moment, the Green Party National Committee has been thinking about a possible official animal that would symbolize the Green Party of the U.S., since the Democratic Party has the donkey and the Republican Party has the elephant. According to Green News and Opinion (here), the choices, in order of support, are (1) Turtle; (2) Frog; (3) not to have an animal symbol; (4) Bee; (5) Sunflower.
Minor parties have not generally been attached to animal symbols, although the Prohibition Party consistently used a camel; the 1912 Progressive Party used a bull moose; and both the Reform and Constitution Parties used an eagle.
On July 11, the Minnesota Republican State Executive Committee moved the Republican presidential caucus from March to February 5. The Minnesota Democrats are considering doing the same thing, but won’t decide until September 2007.