On October 2, the Maine Secretary of State announced that No Labels had cancelled its qualified party status. See this press release from the Secretary of State. All of the party’s registrants were automatically converted to independent voters.
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On October 8, the U.S. Supreme Court heard Bost v Illinois State Board of Elections, 24-568. This is a case in which an Illinois Republican member of the U.S. House challenged the 2005 Illinois law that says postal ballots have until two weeks after election day to arrive. The Seventh Circuit had said that the candidate lacks standing.
Here is the transcript of the hearing. Congressman Bost had seemed to lose in the Seventh Circuit because that court that he was not harmed by the Illinois law. He has been elected to the U.S. House ten times and he always wins with a huge margin. In 2024 he got 74.2%, for example.
The U.S. Supreme Court argument made frequent reference to minor parties and their campaigns. Several justices said several times that some minor parties have “zero” chance of winning. Most of the justices seemed skeptical of any standing rule that might force courts to evaluate whether the election was going to be a close result or not.
The missing man is Petros Krommidas, 29, who was running for the Nassau County, New York legislature. The Republican Party is taking some (well derserved, in my opinion) criticism for this lawsuit.
Democrats think this map was the least friendly toward their party among the six maps that were being considered by the legislature. The redrawing comes after a court decision this past August that invalidated the previous Congressional District map.
Here is the story from Politico.
Thanks to electionlawblog.org for the heads up!
In case you missed this recent brouhaha…
I remember a Moosehead Beer commercial in the 1980’s that stated, “Yes, someday we’ll be on the front porch of the old folks’ home, saying things like “Well, I remember when dogs couldn’t vote.'”
Sometimes when I am petitioning and solicit the signature of someone walking a dog, I ask if their dog is registered to vote. If I had done this recently in California, it looks as if I could have picked up an extra signature…or paw print.