On May 1, Ron Paul paid the $25,000 filing fee needed to get in the Republican Party of South Carolina’s presidential primary. The fee is so high because the party pays for the administration of that primary. Paul was the fourth candidate to pay it. Earlier, Sam Brownback, Rudy Giuliani, and John McCain had paid it. Those who don’t pay the filing fee this month will not be invited into the 2nd Republican presidential debate. That debate is hosted by the South Carolina Republican Party and FOX Network. It is set for May 15.

The U.S. Supreme Court will probably announce on May 14 whether it will hear Kidwell v City of Union, Ohio, no. 06-1226. This very interesting case presents the question of whether a government may spend tax dollars on advertising that asks voters to vote “no” on an initiative.

Another interesting election law case pending in the U.S. Supreme Court is Underwood v Guam Election Commission, no. 06-1268. The Court will probably decide whether to take this case in late May; all three briefs have been submitted. The issue is whether an overvote is a “vote cast”. Federal law says no one may be elected Governor of Guam without a majority of the “votes cast.” The Guam Election Commission considered overvotes (which are void, since the voter voted for two different candidates for Governor) to not be “votes cast.” If they had considered them to be “votes cast”, a run-off would have been needed after the November 2006 gubernatorial election.

On May 1, an Oregon Senate Committee passed SB 630. It provides that there would only be two candidates on the general election (for all partisan office except president). Supporters of the bill refer to this as “the open primary”, although political science textbooks and U.S. Supreme Court decisions call it the “top-two” primary (a classic open primary is one in which a voter is free, on primary election day, to choose any party’s primary ballot).

Supporters of the “top-two” system say they have commitments from 16 Senators to vote for the bill. The Oregon Senate has 30 Senators.