House drops secretary of state from statewide elections measure

By The Associated Press
Published April 9th 2008
A House subcommittee has stripped the secretary of state out of a proposal to create more popularly elected positions in Tennessee.

Under the resolution sponsored by House Minority Leader Jason Mumpower, a Bristol Republican, the state constitution would be changed to elect both the lieutenant governor and the secretary of state.

Rep. Ulysses Jones, a Memphis Democrat, successfully changed the measure to only apply to the lieutenant governor.

The speaker of the Senate currently carries the title of lieutenant governor. The secretary of state is elected by lawmakers.

The Senate has already passed its version of the resolution to include both positions. Senate Speaker Ron Ramsey, a Blountville Republican, has said he doesn’t expect the upper chamber to agree with any changes.

The earliest a proposal to change the state constitution could go before voters is in 2010.
———
Read SJR0687 on the General Assembly’s Web site at: http://www.legislature.state.tn.us
IRV Soars in Twin Cities, FairVote Corrects the Pundits on Meaning of Election Night '09
Election Day '09 was a roller-coaster for election reformers.  Instant runoff voting had a great night in Minnesota, where St. Paul voters chose to implement IRV for its city elections, and Minneapolis voters used IRV for the first time—with local media touting it as a big success. As the Star-Tribune noted in endorsing IRV for St. Paul, Tuesday’s elections give the Twin Cities a chance to show the whole state of Minnesota the benefits of adopting IRV. There were disappointments in Lowell and Pierce County too, but high-profile multi-candidate races in New Jersey and New York keep policymakers focused on ways to reform elections;  the Baltimore Sun and Miami Herald were among many newspapers publishing commentary from FairVote board member and former presidential candidate John Anderson on how IRV can mitigate the problems of plurality elections.

And as pundits try to make hay out of the national implications of Tuesday’s gubernatorial elections, Rob Richie in the Huffington Post concludes that the gubernatorial elections have little bearing on federal elections.

Links