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NEW YORK WORST IN THE NATION FOR VOTER CHOICE
On September 27, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to put Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. on the New York ballot. As a result, New York voters are the only voters in the nation with only two presidential candidates on the ballot.
In the last 40 years, it has been very rare for any state to have such a restricted ballot in a presidential election. Except for Oklahoma in 2004, 2008, and 2012, no other state in the period 1985-2024 has given voters a presidential ballot with only two choices.
The Oklahoma legislature has substantially eased that state’s ballot access laws since 2012, and now there are always at least five presidential candidates on in that state.
On October 23, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled that if a mail voter forgets to enclose the secrecy envelope, that same voter must be allowed to cast a provisional ballot later at the polls. Genser v Butler County Board of Elections, 26 WAP 2024. The case had arisen at the April 2024 primary. Here is the majority decision. The vote was 4-3.
A secrecy envelope is an envelope in which a voted mail ballot is enclosed. Then the secrecy envelope goes into the outer envelope.
On October 21, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. asked the U.S. Supreme Court to order the Wisconsin Election Commission to remove his name from the ballot. The State Supreme Court had kept him on against his will. Kennedy v Wisconsin Elections Commission, 24A399. Here is the filing. It is based on the argument that Wisconsin discriminates against independent candidates by letting party nominees withdraw, whereas independents can’t withdraw after the filing deadline unless they die. Thanks to Thomas Jones for this news.
The U.S. Supreme Court has set an October 28 deadline for a response.
The November 2024 Kentucky ballot in the 29th State Senate district has two names, but neither is eligible. The incumbent, who was running for re-election, was Johnnie L. Turner, but he died October 22. His death attracted considerable publicity because it was such an unusual accident. He was at home using a power lawn mover, but he drove it into the deep end of an empty swimming pool.
The other name on the ballot is independent candidate David Suhr, but he had announced earlier that he is ineligible to serve and he had asked voters not to vote for him.
It is possible a write-in candidate will win. Fortunately, Kentucky has a very late deadline for candidates to file as declared write-ins, and the deadline hasn’t passed yet. See this story.