On September 22, all the full-time judges of the Fifth Circuit heard Harness v Hosemann, 19-60632. The issue is Mississippi’s law on disenfranchisement of ex-felons. See this story.
Reply
This news story describes the inability of the Nebraska legislature so far to pass a redistricting bill for either U.S. House or legislature.
On September 21, a poll was released for the Buffalo, New York mayor’s race. It shows that Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown is leading in the race for Mayor, even though he is a write-in candidate. The only candidate listed on the ballot is India Walton, the Democratic Party nominee. See this story.
On September 20, Canada held a Parliamentary election. The same five parties which had won seats in the 2019 election also won seats in the 2021 election. The results appear to be: Liberal 158, Conservative 119, Bloc Quebecois 34, New Democratic 25, Green 2. See this wikipedia article.
On September 21, the Pennsylvania Senate Government Committee passed SB 56. It is very badly worded, but it seems to say that in primaries and general elections alike, write-in vote totals will not be revealed unless the write-in candidate receives a number of write-in votes equal to the number of signatures that would have been needed to get on the ballot. The required number seems to be the number of petition signatures relating to get on a primary ballot, even though the bill affects general elections as well as primary elections. Here is the text.
The sponsor of the bill, Senator Scott Martin (R-Lancaster) says the bill is needed to prevent persons from receiving party nominations, or election, who don’t want to be nominated or elected. But there is a much more sensible way to achieve that goal. The legislature could require that write-in candidates must file a declaration of write-in candidacy if they want their write-ins counted. Pennsylvania is the only populous state that doesn’t have a write-in declaration of candidacy procedure.