On September 7, the California legislature passed AB 1227, which lets Santa Clara County, the most populous county in northern California, use ranked choice voting for elections for county officers. It will be fascinating to see if Governor Gavin Newsom signs this bill. He is believed to be opposed to rank choice voting, and he has consistently vetoed bills to let all non-charter cities use ranked choice voting.
On September 26, officials of Austin, Texas, filed a notice of appeal to the Fifth Circuit in Virden v City of Austin, 23-50697. The U.S. District Court had struck down the city’s ban on a candidate accepting campaign contributions more than a year before the election.
On September 25, U.S. District Court Judge Lynn Sammartino, a Bush Jr. appointee, issued a Show Cause order in Schaefer v USA and Trump, s.d. California, 3:23cv-1451. Her order says that the plaintiff, Michael Schaefer, a California voter, probably doesn’t have standing to bring a challenge to former President Donald Trump’s ballot status in the California Republican presidential primary. The judge is permitting Schaefer to file a brief in defense of his own standing. It is not due until October 27. Here is the judicial order.
On September 25, both sides in the lawsuit Libertarian National Committee v Saliba, e.d., 5:23cv-11074, filed a joint report with the U.S. District Court judge, expressing their opinions about the timing of the trial. The Libertarian National Committee wants it to start on April 1, 2024; the faction of the Michigan Libertarian Party that is not recognized by the national committee wants it to start October 1, 2024.
The LNC wants the substantive briefs to be due February 29, 2024, the other side wants them due August 15, 2024.
The trial is expected to last three days. Here is the joint report. The judge will now decide the schedule.
In the meantime, the Sixth Circuit has received the appeal of the faction of the Libertarian Michigan Party that is not recognized by the FEC. 23-1856. The issue in the Sixth Circuit is whether the U.S. District Court should have enjoined the non-LNC faction from calling itself “Libertarian Party of Michigan” while the lawsuit proceeds. The Sixth Circuit is sending that to mediation, which will be held on October 20.
Earlier in 2023, the People’s Party helped persuade Cornel West to run for president in the general election of 2024, and indicated it would back him. Then Cornel West did declare. He thanked the People’s Party for initiating the idea, but he said he would seek the Green Party nomination instead.
In recent days leaders of the People’s Party, in their press announcements and in other ways, seems to have decided that Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., is their choice for president, if he runs outside the two major parties.
