Two election law cases were argued in the U.S. Supreme Court in early October 2007. One is from Washington state and one is from New York. Neither decision has come out yet, and neither one will be out this week.
Many election law attorneys and professors are anxiously awaiting the oral argument on Wednesday, January 9, in the Indiana photo voter-ID case. The questions and comments from the Justices may give some clues as to how the justices feel about voting rights.
On January 7, two Arizona State Senators, both Republicans, introduced SB 1064. It would provide that independents, and members of unqualified parties, could vote in the presidential primary of their choice. The sponsors are Senators Jack Harper and Jim Waring.
They probably are not aware that on September 25, 2007, a federal judge in Arizona ruled that if a political party doesn’t wish independents to vote in any of its primaries, then that party can prevent their participation. The state did not appeal this decision.
On January 7, U.S. District Court Judge Robert Jonker of Michigan refused to issue an injunction, stopping the Democratic presidential primary that is set for January 15. The case is Hayes v Michigan Democratic Party, 1:07-cv-1237, western district. The plaintiff had pointed out that Barack Obama and John Edwards don’t appear on the ballot. She had also pointed out that Michigan Democrats have been deprived of their delegates, regardless of whom they vote for. She blamed the state, because all these flaws result from the fact that the primary is too early to conform to national Democratic Party rules.
The Michigan Democratic Party opposed the plaintiff. Therefore, the Judge said the lawsuit is just an intra-party dispute and that he would not get involved. Thanks to Thomas Jones for this news. The Michigan presidential primary ballots do contain write-in space. There will probably be hundreds of thousands of write-in votes cast in the Democratic race. The ballot also contains a choice of “Uncommitted.”
On January 7, U.S. District Court Judge Robert Jonker of Michigan refused to issue an injunction, stopping the Democratic presidential primary that is set for January 15. The case is Hayes v Michigan Democratic Party, 1:07-cv-1237, western district. The plaintiff had pointed out that Barack Obama and John Edwards don’t appear on the ballot. She had also pointed out that Michigan Democrats have been deprived of their delegates, regardless of whom they vote for. She blamed the state, because all these flaws result from the fact that the primary is too early to conform to national Democratic Party rules.
The Michigan Democratic Party opposed the plaintiff. Therefore, the Judge said the lawsuit is just an intra-party dispute and that he would not get involved. Thanks to Thomas Jones for this news. The Michigan presidential primary ballots do contain write-in space. There will probably be hundreds of thousands of write-in votes cast in the Democratic race. The ballot also contains a choice of “Uncommitted.”
Major news media have said consistently that if Mayor Mike Bloomberg runs for president, he needs 74,108 signatures in Texas. However, that is only true if he uses the independent procedure. If he is the nominee of a party, he only needs 43,991 signatures. Furthermore, if he is the nominee of a party, the signatures are due at a later date than the May 12 independent deadline.
However, parties that intend to petition in Texas this year were required to tell the Secretary of State (no later than January 2) that they intend to petition this year. Parties that did file the form, and which would probably want to nominate Bloomberg (should he run), are the Reform Party and the Texas Independence Party. The form submitted by the Reform Party was filed by Beverly Kennedy; the form submitted by the Texas Independence Party was filed by Linda Curtis.
