On July 26, the state of Texas filed a notice of appeal in Miller v Nelson, w.d., 1:19cv-700. This is the case filed by several minor parties and independent candidates against many Texas ballot access laws. The plaintiffs won a decision on June 26 that Texas must allow electronic signatures. The state is not only appealing; it is asking the judge to stay his own order.
On July 25, U.S. District Court Judge Henry T. Wingate, a Reagan appointee, enjoined a new Mississippi law that restricts who can assist a disabled voter in the absentee process. The federal Voting Rights Act says a disabled person can choose anyone to provide assistance except an agent of that voter’s employer or union.
But the new Mississippi law says no one can assist a disabled voter except a family member, household members, caregivers, or employees of the U.S. postal service or employees of the elections office. Here is the decision in Disability Rights Mississippi v Fitch, s.d., 3:23cv-350. Thanks to several people for this news.
Vivek Ramaswamy, who is seeking the Republican presidential nomination, says in 2004 he voted for Michael Badnarik for president. See this story. Ramaswamy was age 19 at the time. Badnarik was the Libertarian presidential nominee that year. Thanks to PoliticalWire for the link.
The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board never misses an opportunity to disparage Ranked Choice Voting and did so again on Wed, June 26 in an editorial applauding the Arlington County, VA Board of Supervisors decision last week to use Plurality Voting instead of RCV is the November 2023 General Election.
I posted the following commentary on the WSJ website in response:
Here is an analysis of the June Ranked Choice Voting election in Arlington County, Virginia. Voters ranked their candidates in order of preference, which is very simple. Scroll down to where you see Round 1 through Round 7 in a horizontal box. Then click through the seven rounds of vote counting to see the vote transfer process. This is hard for the public to understand? If so, we have far deeper problems than RCV vs. Plurality Voting. Is the Editorial Board of the WSJ really too dumb to understand this process? No, the WSJ is–again–writing disingenuously about RCV, because they know many of the Republican candidates they support are too unpopular with the electorate to win RCV elections.
Ohio voters vote on August 8 on Issue One, which would make it more difficult for statewide initiatives to get on the ballot. The Libertarian, Green, and Forward Parties have asked voters to reject the idea. See this story.
