Lost in the publicity about early presidential primaries is the fact that the District of Columbia holds the nation’s earliest presidential primaries. For 2008, the Democratic, Republican and Green Parties will all have a presidential primary on January 8. The major party primaries are just beauty contests; no delegates are actually selected. Republicans in D.C. start their Delegate selection process in a caucus on February 12; the D.C. Democratic caucus is on February 9.
The post of May 4 about the Scottish elections has been rewritten to correct some errors. The problems with invalid ballots in Scotland related to the Parliamentary elections, not the Ranked Choice elections for local city and town councils.
On May 9, the Vermont House Government Operations Committee will hear SB 108, the bill to use Instant-Runoff voting for congressional elections. The bill has already passed the Senate.
On May 7, the North Carolina Senate Government & Election Reform Committee passed SB 760, the National Popular Vote Plan for presidential elections.
Three briefs have now been filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., in Unity08 v Federal Election Commission, no. 07-0053. The final brief is due May 15. This is the case that seeks to overturn the FEC’s rule that no one may give, or loan, more than $5,000 to Unity08. Federal election law lets any individual give or loan $28,500 to a group that the FEC considers to be a political party. The general understanding had been that anyone could give as much money as they wish to a party that is not recognized by the FEC, if the party has no candidate. The FEC’s rule not only negates that general understanding, it doesn’t even treat Unity08 as well as the groups that the FEC considers to be “legitimate” parties.
Most of the FEC’s defenses for its ruling are procedural. The case is likely to have a decision in June 2007. If there was ever a situation to prove that federal campaign finance laws are designed to preserve the status quo, it is this situation. When Ross Perot formed the Reform Party in 1995, he was permitted to spend millions of his own money to get ballot status for the party.
