Voter ID Coming Soon to Texas?

It passed the Senate, and now the House. Gov. Perry has not only said he'd sign it; he's called it emergency legislation. One possible impediment is U.S. Dept. of Justice preclearance under section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. There could also be lawsuits brought against the measure. I'll be keeping up on this one.

"Kloppenburg has gained little ground, faces immense odds"

The latest from Wisconsin.

Is This Petition Form OK in CA?

Americans Elect is trying to become a qualified political party to list a presidential candidate for the 2012 ballot. In California, they are circulating the following petition:



(This scan leaves off the bottom of the form, which contains only circulator information).

California Elections Code section 5100(c) provides for a political party to qualify for the ballot as follows:

If on or before the 135th day before any primary election, there is filed with the Secretary of State a petition signed by voters, equal in number to at least 10 percent of the entire vote of the state at the last preceding gubernatorial election, declaring that they represent a proposed party, the name of which shall be stated in the petition, which proposed party those voters desire to have participate in that primary election. This petition shall be circulated, signed, verified and the signatures of the voters on it shall be certified to and transmitted to the Secretary of State by the county elections officials substantially as provided for initiative petitions. Each page of the petition shall bear a caption in 18-point boldface type, which caption shall be the name of the proposed party followed by the words "Petition to participate in the primary election."

It looks like the petition meets the boldface type, but arguably it does not "declar[e] that "they represent a proposed party...which proposed party those voters desire to have participate in the primary election." The word "party" does not even appear on the petition. Kosher?

"Wisconsin unlimited donations law for recalls"

Joshua Spivak explores.

May Issue of NCSL's "The Canvass" Now Available

See here.

"The Institutional Dimension of Electoral Design"

Paul Edelman has posted this draft on SSRN (Public Choice). Here is the abstract:

The traditional approach to election design focuses solely on the best method to aggregate the preferences of the voters. But elections are run by institutions, and the interests of the institution may not be reflected in the preferences of the voter. In this comment I discuss how institutional considerations come into play in election design in three areas: political representation, corporate voting, and judging in competitions. As an illustration of this institutional approach I appraise the method by which the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences selects the nominees and winners of the Oscars.