A U.S. District Court in Rhode Island will hear Healey v State, 10-316, on September 1.  The judge has indicated he will make a decision within two or three days afterwards.  The issue is the state’s “straight-ticket” device, which lets voters cast a vote for all nominees of one particular party without even looking at the part of the ballot that shows who is running.

Healey is an independent candidate for Lieutenant Governor, with the ballot label “Cool Moose.”  Independent candidates, of course, do not get their own straight-ticket device.

A second federal lawsuit against Rhode Island’s straight-ticket device was filed on August 20.  It is Lusi v Mollis, 10-350.  The lead plaintiff, Joseph Lusi, is an independent candidate for Governor.

Although it may seem late in the election season for a case like this to be heard, Rhode Island does not hold its primary until September 14, and the issue of straight-ticket devices only affects the November ballot.  Obviously Rhode Island can’t print its November ballots until after it has counted the votes in the primary.