Minnesota State Senator John Marty, who has been a Senator for 20 years, has introduced SF 39. It would provide that all federal, state and local elections in Minnesota would use Instant-Runoff Voting, as soon as the Secretary of State had certified that the state is able to handle the project. SF 39 already has 4 co-sponsors. Marty is a Democrat from Roseville, a suburb of St. Paul.
During the last two months, enough of you have contributed to COFOE (Coalition for Free & Open Elections), to make it possible for COFOE to file an amicus brief in the Oregon ballot access case, Wasson v Bradbury. This is the lawsuit over Oregon’s 2005 law that makes it illegal for people to sign an independent candidate petition and also vote in the primary. The brief will be filed on January 19, 2007.
On January 12, three organizations each filed an amicus curiae brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in New York State Board of Elections v Lopez Torres. This is the ballot access case involving how candidates for Delegate to a Judicial Nominating Convention get on the primary ballot of major parties. All three organizations sided with New York state. They are the Republican National Committee, the Mid-Manhatten Branch of the NAACP, and the Asian American Bar Association of New York. All three are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to hear New York state’s appeal.
On January 12, three organizations each filed an amicus curiae brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in New York State Board of Elections v Lopez Torres. This is the ballot access case involving how candidates for Delegate to a Judicial Nominating Convention get on the primary ballot of major parties. All three organizations sided with New York state. They are the Republican National Committee, the Mid-Manhatten Branch of the NAACP, and the Asian American Bar Association of New York. All three are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to hear New York state’s appeal.
In the Oklahoma House of Representatives, the bill to improve ballot access for new and minor parties is HB1359, by Rep. Marian Cooksey. Her bill is identical to the bill in the State Senate, SB 28, by Senator Randy Brogdon.
If there has ever been a situation when it should be easy to lobby for a ballot access bill, it ought to be Oklahoma right now. In November 2004, Oklahoma voters who wanted to vote for someone for president other than President Bush and Senator John Kerry were not permitted to vote at all. No one else was on the ballot in Oklahoma, and no write-ins are permitted in Oklahoma. The November 2004 election in Oklahoma was not free. The right to vote includes the right of choice for whom to vote. If the legislature won’t grant relief, and if the State Courts don’t grant relief, this situation will recur in Oklahoma. The Oklahoma Constitution mandates that elections be “free”.
