On October 9, U.S. District Court Judge Wilhelmina Wright, an Obama appointee, issued an injunction in Craig v Simon, 0:20cv-2066. She enjoined the Minnesota law that says if a candidate dies within 79 days of an election, the election is postponed. Here is the 24-page order.

The Legal Marijuana Now Party nominee for U.S. House, 2nd district, Adams Weeks, died on September 21, which was closer to the election than 79 days, so under the state law, the election was postponed to February 9 and the Legal Marijuana Now Party was permitted to name a new nominee. But under the court order, the original ballots will be used on November 2, and the Legal Marijuana Now Party nominee will be shown as Weeks.

The basis for the court order is that federal law requires states to hold congressional elections in November of even-numbered years. 2 USC 7.

One wonders how the court would have ruled if it had been Congresswoman Angela Craig (the Democratic incumbent, who is running for re-election) who had died. Elections do frequently go forward with the name of a deceased person’s name on the ballot, and if the deceased person wins, then the state holds a special election. But the party whose nominee had died before the election is always at a great disadvantage in that situation.