On May 9, the New Jersey Secretary of State filed a brief in Balsam v Guadagno, U.S. District Court 2:14cv-1388. This is the case, filed in March 2014, in which some New Jersey voters complain that they want to vote in Democratic or Republican primaries, but they don’t want to be listed as members of(More)…
The FEC has become the latest agency to issue guidelines on the usage of Bitcoin. On May 8, the six-members of the FEC issued an Advisory Opinion at the request …
On May 9, the Massachusetts Republican Party agreed that Mark Fisher can be on the Republican primary ballot. Fisher, who is running for Governor, had sued the party because the party had initially said that he didn’t get 15% of the vote at the party’s state convention. See this story. Massachusetts election law does not(More)…
On May 7, the New York state legislature passed A9407, which extends the petitioning period for primary petitions from 37 days to 42 days. However, the bill only applies to 2014. The bill says that the such petitions can start to circulate on May 29, instead of June 3. The bill had been introduced on(More)…
On May 6, Robert Davis, an elected member of the Highland Park, Michigan, School Board, filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court. His complaint says that because he is planning to run for re-election in November 2014, and because he must submit a petition to get on the ballot, he is being injured by the(More)…
On May 9, independent candidate Brent Roske, running in California’s 33rd U.S. House district, dropped out of the race. He endorsed fellow independent candidate Marianne Williamson, who is running for the same seat. There is no incumbent in the race; the outgoing member of Congress is Henry Waxman. Roske is a television producer best known(More)…
A bad bill that never would have passed if we had the One Subject at a Time Act.
On May 8, Kansas Governor Sam Brownback signed HB 2130, which repeals the restriction on out-of-state circulators.
Two statewide initiative petitions were submitted in Illinois last month. One provides for a nonpartisan redistricting commission, and one imposes term limits on state legislators. Both are the subject of attempts to have them disqualified, on the basis that neither subject is permitted. See this story, which gives details about the schedule for the challenges.
In 2011, the California legislature created new classes of methods for dealing with individuals convicted of certain crimes: “Mandatory Supervision” and “Post-Release Community Supervision.” On May 7, a California Superior Court in Alameda County ruled that individuals in those categories may register to vote. The case is Scott v Bowen, RG14-712570. California law denies persons(More)…
