Bill Redpath, elected national chair of the Libertarian Party in Portland, Oregon on July 2, is on the Board of the Center for Voting and Democracy (www.fairvote.org), which advocates proportional representation for legislative bodies, and instant-runoff voting for elections with a single person to be elected (such as president). At the debate (held the day before the vote), Redpath clearly emphasized his belief that this type of election change is needed, in order for the Libertarian Party to become truly influential. One of Redpath’s opponents attacked alternative voting systems. However, Redpath won a 3-person race with 64% of the vote.

The convention also vastly shortened the party’s national platform. For a very detailed and very objective report on the convention, see http://thirdpartywatch.com.

Delaware House Bill 10, which would have outlawed fusion, failed to pass, and the legislature has now gone home for the year.

In April 2006, the Alabama legislature passed HB 51, which was intended to move the presidential primary from June to February. However, the bill was drafted so that it actually moves the primary for all office, not just president, to February. Since the petition deadline for minor parties and independents candidates (other than president) is tied to the date of the primary, that had the indirect result of moving the petition deadlines to February. Already various minor parties and independent candidates have a case in the 11th circuit against the June deadline. In 1991 the 11th circuit had struck down Alabama’s then deadline of April, so clearly the new law is unconstitutional. The legislature has gone home for the year and can’t fix the problem until next year.