On April 5, a majority of the Florida Board of Executive Clemency announced that most ex-felons will regain the right to vote, at least as long as those particular Board members are in office. Their terms all expire in January 2011.

The Board, by a vote of 3-1, said it will make restoration of voting rights automatic, except in the case of murderers, sexual predators, and ex-felons who still haven’t made restitution to their victims. The members of the Board are the four statewide state constitutional office-holders: Governor Charlie Crist, Attorney General Bill McCollum, Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink, and Agriculture Commissioner Charles Bronson. When they leave office, the future office-holders could theoretically reverse the policy.

Three of the four officers are Republicans; the Chief Financial Officer is a Democrat. Governor Crist worked hard to implement this policy. He was opposed by the Attorney General. Since the plan needed 3 votes, the swing vote was the Agriculture Commissioner, whose vote had been in doubt until April 5.

At 7:15 am on April 4, the Oregon Senate Legislative Operations & Reform Committee heard testimony on SB 630, which would institute “top-two” primaries for all partisan office except president. Four witnesses from the Green Party testified against it. Representatives of the two major parties also testified against it. The Green Party witnesses, joined by Richard Burke of the Oregon Libertarian Party, held a press conference after the hearing was over, to further explain their opposition.

The chair of the Committee said he won’t schedule a work session for the Committee to vote on the bill, unless a head count shows that the bill would pass the full State Senate.

Last year, minor parties in New Jersey filed a lawsuit in state court on a variety of issues (all concerned with laws that discriminate against minor parties and in favor of major parties). In the last few weeks, attorneys on both sides have met to decide whether any of the issues can be settled. Tentatively, representatives of the Attorney General’s office are suggesting that these issues can be settled: (1) an end to the law that makes it illegal for someone to circulate a candidate petition if the circulator lives outside the district; (2) inclusion of the Conservative Party, as one of the unqualified parties that have the right to have voters register into it; (3) to eliminate wording on petitions that the signers intend to vote for the candidates listed on the petition.