On September 12, U.S. District Court Judge Jill Parrish, an Obama appointee, declined to order the state elections office to remove a Republican legislative nominee from the November ballot. The Utah Democratic Party had filed the lawsuit on September 7, arguing that the nominee, Representative Joel Ferry, is ineligible to be re-elected to the legislature because he has been appointed to an executive position in Utah government. Utah Democratic Party v Henderson, 2:22cv-581.

The order says that even though Ferry appears to be ineligible, it doesn’t follow that he can’t run. If he is re-elected, he would then resign. If he were to be removed from the ballot, the only name on the ballot would be the Democratic nominee, although there are some declared write-in candidates who are Republicans. Here is the ruling.