The Office of Security & Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) has published its report on the U.S. election of November 2, 2004. The OSCE is the office that is supposed to enforce the Helsinki Accords. The report is disappointingly bland. It mentions many problems in U.S. election administration, including restrictive ballot access laws, but it does not actually criticize or condemn the U.S. for any of these problems. The only actual condemnation of the United States is its failure to let OSCE observers watch the polling process in most states.

On April 22, Washington’s Governor signed HB 1447, which lets certain cities use Instant-Runoff Voting for city elections if they wish. The city most likely to do this soon is Vancouver.

On April 15, a unit of the Virginia Republican Party filed a federal lawsuit, to enforce a party bylaw. The bylaw says no one can vote in the Republican primary if they voted in the Democratic primary for the preceding 5 years. Current Virginia state law requires that all primaries be open to all registered voters; Virginia has no registration by party. Miller v Brown, 3:05cv-266, eastern district.