On August 29, the West Virginia Supreme Court heard arguments in Blankenship v Warner, 18-0712. This is the case over whether the Constitution Party is permitted to nominate Don Blankenship for U.S. Senate. All five justices asked questions (some of them are sitting for this case only, because of vacancies on the court). The hearing lasted two hours and ten minutes. It would have been over sooner, but twice a fire alarm interrupted the proceedings and everyone had to leave the courtroom. A decision will probably be released the first week in September.

On August 24, the Washington State Supreme Court unanimously put initiative I-1639 back on the November ballot. It had been removed by a lower state court because the petitions presented the proposal with very small font, and also because the petition presentation of the text did not strike through words that were being deleted, nor did it underline new words that are being added to the law.

The four-page order of the Washington State Supreme Court says the law does not authorize eliminating an initiative from the ballot for such flaws. Ball v Wyman, 96191-3. Thanks to Jim Riley for the link.

Florida held primaries on August 28. Although technically all qualified parties nominate by primary, no primary is held for parties with no contests. Therefore, there are only Democratic and Republican results. Here is a link. Rocky De La Fuente, running for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate against Governor Rick Scott, polled 11.4%.