As noted in an earlier post, on August 13, a state court in New Hampshire refused to enjoin the state from releasing the statewide list of New Hampshire voters to the Democratic and Republican Parties and no other organizations. The ACLU had sued on behalf of the Libertarian Party. The New Hampshire Democratic Party has now sold the list for $65,000 each, to the presidential campaigns of Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, John Edwards, Chris Dodd, and Bill Richardson. This results in income of $325,000 to the state party.

In 1970 the U.S. Supreme Court had summarily affirmed a 3-judge district decision from New York, in Socialist Workers Party v Rockefeller. That decision had said that if a state gives a free list of the registered voters to the qualified parties, it must give the list to unqualified parties on the same terms. The New Hampshire state court in Merrimack County seems oblivious to this precedent, which should be binding everywhere in the nation.

Proponents of Instant-Runoff Voting in St. Paul, Minnesota, have decided not to submit signatures for their initiative this week. Therefore, the initiative asking voters if they wish to use Instant-Runoff Voting in city elections will not be before voters in this year’s municipal elections. Instead, the proponents will submit their signatures somewhat later this month, so that the initiative will be on the 2008 ballot. The proponents feel they need extra time for educating voters.

Only 13,262 votes were cast in the famous Ames, Iowa straw poll for the Republican presidential race. Last time this event was held, in 1999, there were over 20,000 votes cast. Voters had to pay $35 to vote. Mitt Romney did not deny published reports that he spent approximately $800 per vote. The results were: Romney 4,516; Huckabee 2,587; Brownback 2,192; Tancredo 1,960; Paul 1,305; Tommy Thompson 1,039; Fred Thompson 203; Giuliani 183; Hunter 174; McCain 101; John Cox 41.