On October 4, a lower state court in Arizona agreed to re-open the lawsuit Boettcher v Bennett, and will hold a hearing on October 7 to hear more evidence. See this story.

The case involved who should be on the ballot in the November 8 special election for State Senate. Currently three candidates are on the ballot: incumbent Senate President Russell Pearce, Jerry Lewis, and Olivia Cortes. The lawsuit charges that Cortes as a “sham candidate” put on the ballot by the efforts of supporters of Pearce for the purpose of splitting the opposition vote. Originally the court had ruled that there is no basis to remove a candidate from the ballot based on the candidate’s motives for running. But now, opponents of Pearce say they have new evidence about the relationship between Pearce supporters and Cortes. Cortes asked the State Supreme Court to stop the October 7 hearing, but the State Supreme Court refused to intervene. However, the Supreme Court also said that it will eventually hear the entire case.

In the meantime, all three candidates have agreed to debate each other.