The Florida Supreme Court will soon decide whether to remove certain statewide ballot measures from the November ballot. These are not initiatives, but are proposals put on the ballot by this year’s Constitution Revision Commission. See this story. A lower court removed three of the measures because the lower court felt they violate the single-subject rule.
On September 20, the Missouri State Appeals Court heard arguments over whether a statewide initiative should be on the ballot. A Lower state court had removed it because of the single subject rule. Here is a newspaper story about the hearing in the State Appeals Court. A decision is expected next week.
There is no decision yet as to whether Fred Linck, the Socialist Action Party nominee for U.S. Senate, will be on the Connecticut ballot. The volunteers for the party have found numerous substantial errors in the validation process of many towns. Some town clerks invalidated signatures of voters who are registered independents, as though the town clerks thought they were checking a primary petition. Some town clerks invalidated many signatures of people who supposedly aren’t registered, yet they were registered. The Secretary of State is letting the Socialist Action volunteers do all the work of re-validating signatures, instead of helping with the process. Another 600 valid signatures need to be found.
If Linck does get on the ballot, he will be the only statewide candidate in any state in November 2018 with the word “socialist” in his ballot label.
On September 18, U.S. District Court Judge George J. Hazel, an Obama appointee, refused to order the Maryland State Board of Elections to put the Bread and Roses Party on the ballot. It needed 10,000 valid signatures, and it was 270 signatures short.
The state argued that because the Bread and Roses Party only had one candidate for any public office in 2018, and because that candidate, Jerome Segal, had run in the Democratic primary earlier this year, there was no basis for putting the party on the ballot in time for the 2018 election. Maryland law won’t allow Segal to be the nominee of a new party, even if it were on the ballot, because he is a “sore loser.” The state said the party is free to go out and get at least 270 more valid signatures, and then it will be on the ballot for 2020. The judge agreed with the state and denied injunctive relief. The order merely says “For the reasons stated on the record during today’s motion hearing, Plaintiffs’ Emergency Motion for a Preliminary Inuunction is denied.” Segal v Maryland State Board of Elections, 1:18cv-2731. The plaintiffs have filed a notice of Appeal to the 4th circuit, case 18-3844. This is a pro se case.
Georgia primaries were held on May 22, but last week the Republican primary for State House, 28th district, was set aside by a judge. The evidence showed that at least 70 voters had been given ballots for another State House race instead of the one these voters should have been given.
On September 20, the same judge ruled that a new Republican primary for that seat will be held Tuesday, December 4. There are no other elections in Georgia that day. Although the state does have general election run-offs, they are held in early January. The same two Republicans will be on the December 4 ballot, and the winner will be presumed not only elected, but nominated, since no Democrat or member of any other party, nor any independent, had filed for the seat. See this story. The story does not say whether voters who had voted in the Democratic primary back in May will be allowed to vote.
