Ohio has partisan primaries for judicial offices, but in the general election there is no party label for judicial nominees. On April 21, the Ohio Senate passed SB 80. It says there should be partisan labels on general election ballots, starting in 2022, for State Supreme and State Appellate races. It passed the Senate on a party-line vote, with Republicans in favor and Democrats opposed.

Ironically, some years ago the Ohio Democratic Party filed a federal lawsuit to require party labels on the general election ballot. They lost that lawsuit, and now appear to have changed their mind.

On April 21, the Illinois Supreme Court issued an opinion in Elam v Municipal Officers Electoral Board for Village of Riverdale, 2021-IL-127080. It said that the election law does not permit anyone to circulate for a primary candidate and then later circulate for an independent candidate, in the same year, even if the offices were different. Here is the eleven page opinion.

On page ten, the opinion says, “Circulators are the cadre of any political movement. A party needs a cadre to exist. Once a circulator acts on a party’s behalf to solicit signatures, he remains the party’s agent (if he is active at all) for the electoral season. This helps political parties to act as entities selecting and offering candidates to the voters.” The decision also says in the next paragraph that it cause voter confusion if a circulator circulated both types of petition. These paragraphs seem absurd. A circulator may be a professional and it seems odd for the government to care about his or her motives. No one would propose a law that a campaign consultant couldn’t work on a primary campaign and then another campaign for an independent candidate in the same year.

Germany has a parliamentary election on September 26. One poll shows that the Green Party is now the party with the most popular support. See this story.