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.

Canadian Group that Favors Proportional Representation Floods the Ballot in a Parliamentary Special Election to Publicize Their Cause

Posted on by June 14, 2023
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Canada is holding a special parliamentary election in Manitoba on June 19 to fill a vacancy. The special election ballot has 48 candidates listed. There would have only been six candidates, except that the Longest Ballot Committee, a group that is trying to get proportional representation for Canada, deliberately encouraged 42 individuals to file, just to bring attention to their cause.

See this story. All of the 42 individuals have a single campaign treasurer, and all are on the ballots as independents except for one who is listed as the nominee of the Rhinocerus Party.

Candidates get on the ballot for member of the federal parliament by filing 100 signatures. Thanks to Tom MacMillan for the link.

Ranked Choice Voting Initiative is also Circulating in Missouri

Posted on by June 14, 2023
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Yesterday I posted a story about an Approval Voting initiative petition that is currently circulating in Missouri. Another initiative petition that is circulating is for Ranked Choice Voting that, according to a story on kfvs.com, the link for which is below, would eliminate primaries in Missouri and have all candidates run in the General Election, with the winning candidate elected through RCV.

According to Ballotpedia, at least 107,426 signatures of MO registered voters will need to be collected to place any initiative on the November 2024 ballot. That number could be higher if more highly populated congressional districts are targeted by petitioners.

I also applaud the writer of this story who corrected Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft’s mischaracterization of RCV.

https://www.kfvs12.com/2023/06/13/petition-aims-place-ranked-choice-voting-question-2024-missouri-ballot/