On September 30, a U.S. District Court in Texas struck down two Texas election laws that make it illegal for voters to wear “political” clothes at a polling place. Ostrewich v Hudspeth, s.d., 4:19cv-715. Here is the order.
30
According to this story, Georgia county election officials in 120 counties (out of 159) have signed a request to the legislature and the Governor that the legislature move the 2022 primary from late May to late June. If that happens, the legislature would probably also move the petition deadline for independent candidates, and the nominees of unqualified parties, from July to August.
The legislature comes back into special session on November 3, 2021.
On September 29, a Virginia state trial court ruled that Democratic gubernatorial nominee Terry McAuliffe may remain on the November 2021 ballot. The judge said that technically, the statement of candidacy does not need to be signed by the candidate if the candidate appears in front of two witnesses and the two witnesses sign the form. See this story.
On September 27, proponents of Arkansas initiatives filed a brief in U.S. District Court in Liberty Initiative Fund v Thurston, e.d., 4:21cv-460. The issue is the new Arkansas ban on out-of-state circulators for initiatives. The Arkansas initiative proponents’ brief points out that recently, a U.S. District Court in Maine struck down Maine’s ban on out-of-state circulators.
On September 28, the New York legislature finally sent S 7191 to the Governor. It had passed on June 10, 2021. This is the bill to make it more difficult for non-members to obtain a party nomination via write-ins in the primary. It is an idea that the Green Party in particular has long worked for, because the Green Party doesn’t like it when non-members of the party seize a party nomination without support from the Green Party.