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.
Port Chester, New York, has been using cumulative voting for its village trustee elections for some time. On October 10, the voters voted to keep using the system. The vote was 746-429. Thanks to Rick Hasen for this news. See this story.
On October 5, the West Virginia Supreme Court issued its explanation of why it kept Don Blankenship, Constitution Party nominee, off the ballot. State ex rel Blankenship v Warner, 18-0712. The opinion is at its weakest near the end, when it tries to explain why keeping “sore losers” off the ballot for unqualified parties doesn’t violate equal protection, because qualified minor parties are free to nominate “sore losers” if they nominate by convention. Thanks to Phil Hudok for the link.
