First Public RCV Election in Virginia on Tue, June 20

Posted on by June 15, 2023
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This first public Ranked Choice Voting election in Virginia history will be held in Arlington County on Tuesday, June 20. It is the Democratic Party primary for the Arlington County Board of Supervisors. It will use multiwinner RCV, as two Democrats (out of six primary candidates) will advance to the November 2023 General Election.

Here is a recent story from FairVote:

https://fairvote.org/what-to-know-about-arlingtons-first-proportional-rcv-election/

All previous RCV elections in Virginia were at either conventions or private primary elections. Recognized parties in Virginia have an option to nominate by public primary, private primary or convention. The private primary was usually called a “firehouse primary,” because they were sometimes held at firehouses, but were also held at other public locations.

Any registered voter could vote, but they usually only if they signed a statement declaring that they would vote for the primary winner in the General Election, which was not legally enforceable.

No Labels Asks Maine Secretary of State to Reveal Evidence on Whether Voters Were Tricked Into Registering with No Labels

Posted on by June 15, 2023
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On June 13, an attorney for the No Labels Party of Maine asked the Secretary of State to reveal the evidence that No Labels workers had tricked any voter into registering into No Labels.

Last month, the Secretary of State sent a letter to all 6,456 registrants in No Labels, asserting that workers for No Labels had tricked some people into registering with the party, and asking the recipient if he or she wants to re-register out of No Labels. In Maine, a party becomes ballot-qualified by persuading 5,000 people to register into the party.

Here is the letter, which says that what the Secretary of State did is unprecedented. To see the whole letter, click on the box in the upper right corner.

Actually there is a precedent. In 1979 in California, as the Libertarian Party was finishing up its registration drive for party status, election officials also asserted some voters had been tricked, and prepared to send a letter similar to the Maine letter to all the Libertarian registrants in certain counties. The California Libertarian Party sued in Superior Court to stop the letter from being sent out. The case was settled when the officials agreed not to send the letter until after the party had qualified. In California, when a party got enough registered members to qualify as of a particular date, it remained on the ballot even if its registration later declined below the required number. So postponing the issuance of that letter did not affect the Libertarian Party’s qualified status. The case was Libertarian Party of California v Eu, Orange County Superior Court, case 32-50-01, settled on December 19, 1979.

Fourth Democrat with Potential Strong Campaign Enters California 2024 U.S. Senate Race

Posted on by June 15, 2023
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Lexi Reese, a wealthy businesswoman with the potential for a strong campaign, has entered the race for the California U.S. Senate race. She is the fourth Democrat so far in the race. See this story. Thanks to Political Wire for the link.

Given California’s top-two system, if there are two Republicans eventually in the race, each of whom has a strong campaign, there is a possibility that the two Republicans might place first and second in the primary. Filing is in late November 2023. The primary is March 5, 2024. The strongest Republican who has already expressed an interest in the race so far is Steve Garvey, a former professional baseball player.

Filing Closes for Special Utah Congressional Election

Posted on by June 15, 2023
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Utah will hold a special U.S. House election on November 21 to fill the vacancy in the Second District. Filing closed on June 14. Five parties will have nominees: Republican, Democratic, United Utah, Libertarian, and Constitution. Also there are two independent candidates, each of whom needed 500 signatures. See this story. Thanks to Thomas Jones for the link.

Parties in which there are more than a single candidate are Republican, Democratic, and United Utah. Those parties will hold conventions in the next few weeks to choose their nominees. If the convention process doesn’t choose a nominee, then special primaries will be held on September 5.

Voting Rights Specialist Approved for a Federal Judgeship

Posted on by June 14, 2023
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On June 14, the U.S. Senate confirmed Dale Ho to be a U.S. District Court Judge in the southern district of New York. He has been the head of the ACLU’s Voting Rights Project since 2013.

The ACLU has attacked severe ballot access laws in courts in many states for many decades. Back in 1940, the ACLU published a criticism of severe ballot access laws. The last ballot access case won by the ACLU was for the New Hampshire Libertarian Party in 2020, which resulted in an easier petition requirement for 2020 only. Without that victory, the Libertarian Party would not have been on the New Hampshire ballot in 2020. It was the first time New Hampshire state government had ever lost a ballot access lawsuit.