On October 26, the New York State Board of Elections filed this brief in the Second Circuit in Redpath v Spano, 18-2089. The case was formerly called Merced v Spano. The issue is the state’s ban on out-of-state circulators.

The state tries to argue that anyone can be a circulator, and that the law only bans out-of-state “witnesses.” In other words, the state expects every out-of-state circulator to be accompanied at all times by a New York state resident. Then the state argues that the free speech of circulators is not an issue in the case, and that witnesses have no free speech complaint because it is the other person in the team who can be expected to do all the talking.

On October 24, a Pennsylvania state trial court kept a Democratic nominee for State Senate, 38th district, on the ballot. Republicans had challenged her on the basis that they didn’t believe she had been a resident for four years. The court said the Republican challenge was filed too late, and should have been filed when the candidate filed for the primary in March. See this story. Thanks to Steve Goodale for the link.

On October 24, U.S. District Court Judge Leigh Martin May said she will issue an injunction on October 25 in the two absentee ballot cases, Martin v Kemp, 1:18cv-4776, and Georgia Muslin Voter Project v Kemp, 1:18cv-4789. She hasn’t issued the injunctions yet because she wants to give the state a chance to comment on the details. UPDATE: on October 25, the final 4-page order was released; see it here.

One case involves the process by which election officials compare the signature on a voter registration application against a voter’s signature on a request for an absentee ballot. The other case involves checking the signature on a voter registration application against the mailed ballot, when it arrives to be counted. The injunction will protect voters whose applications or ballots have been rejected. If either is rejected, the voter must be informed promptly, so the problem can be cured. Thanks to Rick Hasen for this news. Here is the 31-page order handed down on October 24.