On May 16, Lenora Fulani and her political allies filed a federal lawsuit against the state leaders of the New York Independence Party. Fulani v MacKay, s.d., 06-cv-3747. New York city is under the Pre-Clearance Requirements of the federal Voting Rights Act. The lawsuit justifiably claims that when the state Independence Party dissolved 3 county units of that party, that the action amounts to a change in a voting procedure that should have been submitted to the Justice Department before it was implemented. It is true that political party rules changes, in covered jurisdictions, are subject to the Voting Rights Act. A US Supreme Court case, Morse v Virginia Republican Party, 517 US 186, established that in 1996.

The Fulani lawsuit had one preliminary hearing on May 24 and will have a more substantive hearing on June 1. The case is before U.S. District Court Judge George Daniels, a Clinton appointee.

On May 24, the US Senate voted 49-48 to keep an amendment in the Immigration bill. The amendment would require the states to require photo ID for voting at the polls. However, shortly afterwards, the Senate invoked closure on the bill itself, 73-26. That later vote automatically defeated the voter photo ID amendment, and all other such “non-germane” amendments.

Pat LaMarche, Green Party candidate for Governor of Maine, has submitted the 2,500+ small contributions, and the corresponding paperwork, to receive $1,400,000 in public funding. This is in accordance with Maine’s “clean elections” system, which does not discriminate for or against anyone because of political party affiliation.