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Maine Officials Invalidate Statewide Initiative Because They Think Notary Signature On Petitions Differs from Signature on Other Older Documents

According to this story, Maine’s Secretary of State invalidated a statewide initiative petition for marijuana legalization because the Notary’s signature on the petition sheets doesn’t look similar to that Notary’s older signature on other records. The Secretary of State’s office admits they didn’t even communicate with the Notary. Thanks to Walker Chandler for the link. …read more

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Washington Post Carries Op-Ed Criticizing U.S. Election Laws and Practices that Bolster Republican and Democratic Parties Against Others

Peter Ackerman and Larry Diamond have this op-ed in the Washington Post. It condemns U.S. election laws and practices that make it difficult for new parties and independent candidates to compete against the Republican and Democratic Parties. Peter Ackerman was a leader of Americans Elect 2010-2012. Larry Diamond is a scholar at the Hoover Institute. …read more

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Tenth Circuit Agrees with U.S. District Court that Colorado Disclosure Requirements are too Burdensome for Small Political Committees

On March 2, the Tenth Circuit issued an opinion in Coalition for Secular Government v Williams, 14-1469. The issue is whether small political committees must comply with the state’s onerous campaign contribution and expenditure rules. The Tenth Circuit agreed with the U.S. District Court’s 2014 decision, and held that the particular committee that brought the lawsuit should not need to comply with the disclosure rules.
The Tenth Circuit said, “The minimal informational interest here cannot support Colorado’s filing schedule that requires twelve disclosures in seven months regardless of whether an issue committee has received or spent any money. …read more

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Google Says “Fuck You” to Consumers by Explicitly Banning Adblockers on Android

Well…score one for Apple. Okay, not exactly. It is ironic however that a company that is so well known for its “closed ecosystem”–that being iOS–allows for adblocking apps when the supposed “open ecosystem” of Alphabet/Google’s Android is now explicitly not allowing for adblockers.
“We don’t allow apps that interfere with… other… services, including but not limited to other apps on the device, any Google service, or an authorized carrier’s network…
Here are some examples of common violations:

Apps that block or interfere with another app displaying ads.” [emphasis mine]

That’s a direct quote from the new dev policy. But let’s be clear, though, because …read more