Randy Law, a former Ohio Republican state representative, is asking the Ohio Supreme Court to put him on the ballot as an independent candidate for Mayor of Warren, Ohio. See this story. The county Board of Elections kept him off the ballot, even though he has enough valid signatures, because he was in the past a member of the Trumbull County Republican Committee. However, he resigned from that committee in April 2019.

The Ohio law on who can become an independent candidate is very vague, which frequently leads to lawsuits similar to this one. Section 3501.01 says an “Independent candidate” is a candidate “who claims not to be affiliated with a political party.” Ohio voter registration forms do not ask the applicant about partisan affiliation, so there is no clear method to administer this requirement.

On August 16, California Secretary of State filed this brief, which argues that Rocky De La Fuente’s case against the new California tax returns-ballot bill should be transferred from San Diego to Sacramento. There are five federal lawsuits pending against the new California law. De La Fuente’s case was the first, and it was filed in San Diego. The other four lawsuits were filed a few days later in Sacramento.

Pierre Nantel has been a New Democratic Party member of the Canadian Parliament since 2011. On August 19 he left his old party and joined the Green Party. He will run for re-election as a Green nominee. Before being elected, he was a television news broadcaster. He represents Longueuil-Saint-Hubert, Quebec. He says that he left the New Democratic Party because that party seemed so uninterested in climate change.