In no particular order:
Presidential Nominating Teleconference?
According to the GPUS website, the Green Party's Presidential Nominating Convention is still scheduled to take place in Detroit. There is no information up about whether it will be conducted online. This is also a good opportunity to remind recently selected national delegates to register. Even if it happens online, the registration fee is still $100, which helps defray costs like renting space at Wayne State University; after all, at least some of the national co-chairs will still be traveling to Detroit.
Oral Argument Date Set in Ballot Access Lawsuit
The rap battle starts 23 June. This bit of information hit Ballot Access News before a lot of Texas Greens found out; I found out just yesterday. BAN refers to the federal lawsuit in question as Dikeman v. Hughs, which I guess is fair, given that 2018 Libertarian senatorial candidate Neal Dikeman is listed first among the plaintiffs. The outcome will determine whether Libertarians and Greens will still need to pay filing fees that go toward financing Democratic and Republican primary elections.
Presidential Nominating Teleconference?
According to the GPUS website, the Green Party's Presidential Nominating Convention is still scheduled to take place in Detroit. There is no information up about whether it will be conducted online. This is also a good opportunity to remind recently selected national delegates to register. Even if it happens online, the registration fee is still $100, which helps defray costs like renting space at Wayne State University; after all, at least some of the national co-chairs will still be traveling to Detroit.
Oral Argument Date Set in Ballot Access Lawsuit
The rap battle starts 23 June. This bit of information hit Ballot Access News before a lot of Texas Greens found out; I found out just yesterday. BAN refers to the federal lawsuit in question as Dikeman v. Hughs, which I guess is fair, given that 2018 Libertarian senatorial candidate Neal Dikeman is listed first among the plaintiffs. The outcome will determine whether Libertarians and Greens will still need to pay filing fees that go toward financing Democratic and Republican primary elections.
Full disclosure and a wee bit of gloating: Dikeman received 65,470 votes statewide, including mine, in his 2018 run. That's about 2,000 fewer than I received in 2012.
Texas Dems Haven't Forgotten How to Sue
More recently, the Democratic Party of Texas has also taken the Texas Secretary of State's Office to court regarding the 2017 law ending straight-ticket options on voting machines. BAN's analysis:
Texas Dems Haven't Forgotten How to Sue
More recently, the Democratic Party of Texas has also taken the Texas Secretary of State's Office to court regarding the 2017 law ending straight-ticket options on voting machines. BAN's analysis:
The Texas case is especially weak if the health crisis means that all voters will have a postal ballot. The Democratic Party argues that without a device, voters must spend more time inside the voting booth, which leads to longer lines for people waiting to vote. Texas already has early voting.
One could also argue, as I do, that encouraging one-punch partisan voting could deprive people of the right to vote in races without a candidate representing their preferred party. In 27 statewide races since 2000, 23 of which were judicial contests (I looked them all up), Texas Democrats have neglected to nominate a candidate. This has benefited Greens and Libertarians some, but not as much as if the hundreds of thousands of undervoters had voted Green instead of abstaining. Also, thanks to gerrymandering and safe seats, the number of Congressional and State Legislative races with only one major-party nominee is in the hundreds just since 2000.
Straight-ticket voters may also miss a chance to vote in non-partisan ballot initiatives and amendments to the Texas Constitution. Some of these may affect a voter's life far more directly than the race for, say, governor: e.g., whether your schools get reconstruction funding or whether you can buy a margarita at your favorite local taquería.
Two Resolutions Passed at GPTX Annual State Meeting
My report on the ASM of 18 April left the world on the edge of its collective seat regarding the resolutions presented and passed. Last night's Zoom meeting of the State Executive Committee confirmed that two of the six resolutions achieved consensus:
Straight-ticket voters may also miss a chance to vote in non-partisan ballot initiatives and amendments to the Texas Constitution. Some of these may affect a voter's life far more directly than the race for, say, governor: e.g., whether your schools get reconstruction funding or whether you can buy a margarita at your favorite local taquería.
Two Resolutions Passed at GPTX Annual State Meeting
My report on the ASM of 18 April left the world on the edge of its collective seat regarding the resolutions presented and passed. Last night's Zoom meeting of the State Executive Committee confirmed that two of the six resolutions achieved consensus:
- Tarrant County's call for the end of the 287(g) program, in which local law enforcement collaborates with ICE and acts as ex officio immigration police, and
- Bexar County's call for a delay on the Vista Ridge groundwater project due to its potentially deleterious impact on major aquifers.
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