The Arkansas Libertarian Party has 1,964 signatures on its petition to qualify the party for the presidential ballot. Only 1,000 are required. The party will turn them in before the end of the month. This will be the first petition that any minor party will have submitted, the entire calendar year of 2007, so far. Although the Constitution Party of Missouri has also finished its petition, it can’t turn in the signatures until it finishes choosing its nominees, so that petition probably won’t be turned in until October.

S1257, the bill to give the District of Columbia a voting member of the House of Representatives, will be on the U.S. Senate floor starting approximately 2 p.m. eastern time, on Tuesday, Sep. 18. U.S. Senator Robert Byrd (D-W.V.) issued a statement opposing the bill, although he won’t be attending the Senate today.

The city of Modesto, California, is trying to persuade the U.S. Supreme Court to invalidate a California election law that will force Modesto to elect its city councilmembers by district. The California law is somewhat like the federal voting rights act, only it is stronger. Modesto will be forced to use districts to elect its city council because under the at-large system, virtually no Hispanics have ever been elected. Here is the brief of the organization opposed to the city. The case is City of Modesto v Sanchez, no. 07-88.