On October 8, the Interamerican Commission on Human Rights heard the case brought by Puerto Rico against United States policy that does not allow U.S. citizens living in Puerto Rico to vote for federal office. One can watch the hearing at this link. The interesting part starts at the one hour, three minute mark, when representatives of the U.S. government defend current policy.
On October 11, the Fourth Circuit agreed with the U.S. District Court that the Bread & Roses Party should not be on the Maryland ballot next month for U.S. Senate. Its only nominee, Jerome Segal, had run in the Democratic primary this year so the state’s “sore loser” law precluded his running again in November. Here is the two-page opinion. Thanks to Steve Kamp for this news.
On October 11, a New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan upheld the very early deadline for voters to register into a party, if they wish to vote in its primary. The deadline to vote join a party, so as to be able to vote in its 2019 primary, was October 12, 2018. New York state has partisan elections every calendar year. Moody v New York State Board of Elections. No other state has such an early deadline. Read the opinion here.
Patricia Muth died on April 28, 2018, at the age of 77. She was a leader of the Reform Party, especially in Florida. She also wrote a history of the Reform Party, called “A Title in the Making.”
On October 11, various groups representing voters, especially minority group voters, sued Georgia over its slow processing of voter registration applications. Georgia Coalition for the Peoples’ Agenda v Kemp, n.s., 1:18cv-4727. The case is assigned to U.S. District Court Judge Eleanor Ross, an Obama appointee. Here is the Complaint. There are approximately 53,000 voter registration applications that have not been processed. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link to the complaint.
