Two Connecticut Libertarian nominees for city office in Meridan were restored to the ballot on October 10, for the election of November 5, 2019. See this story. They had originally been removed for slightly irregular paperwork. They sued and then the Secretary of State reversed position and put them on the ballot.
On October 14, a Kentucky trial court enjoined new Kentucky procedures for handling inactive voters at the polls, for the gubernatorial election being held on November 5, 2019. Here is the order in Kentucky Democratic Party v State Board of Elections, Franklin Circuit, 19-CI-1043. The main basis seems to be that the change was made closer to the election than 90 days. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.
The California Supreme Court has said it will hear oral argument in Patterson v Padilla, S257302, no later than the week of November 4-8, 2019. Conceivably it could be earlier. This is the case over whether the California Constitution permits the state to enforce its law that presidential primary candidates must reveal their tax returns. Patterson, the first-named plaintiff, is the state chair of the California Republican Party.
Although a U.S. District Court has enjoined that law on federal constitutional grounds, the state is appealing that to the Ninth Circuit. Therefore it is still sensible that the State Supreme Court will hear the state constitutional case. The state constitution says that all “recognized” presidential candidates (who are seeking the nomination of a qualified party) must appear on a presidential primary ballot.
On October 11, a U.S. District Court in Alabama approved a settlement of the lawsuit Alabama State Conference of NAACP v Pleasant Grove, n.d., 2:18cv-2056. The city had been sued in 2018 over its method of electing city council members, which were at-large. The plaintiffs said this method made it difficult for black candidates to be elected. Pleasant Grove is near Birmingham.
The city and the NAACP settled the lawsuit. In the future, voters will use cumulative voting. Every voter will have five votes, and five city councilmembers will be elected. Voters will be free to cast one vote each for five different candidates, or cast all five votes for one particular candidate, or any other combination. Here is the settlement document, which lists the other jurisdictions that already use cumulative voting in Alabama. Cumulative voting avoids the need to split jurisdictions into districts. Thanks to Rick Hasen for this news.
On October 13, California Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed AB 681, which would have required election officials to send two notices to registered voters in advance of a presidential primary, telling them which party (if any) they are registered in. The veto message says the expense would be considerable. In any event, he had already signed SB 72, which lets voters at the primary change parties instantly.
