Kenya High Court Says Re-Run of Presidential Election Must Include All Candidates Who were on the Ballot in the First Election

Posted on by October 12, 2017
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On October 11, the High Court of Kenya ruled that in the re-run of the presidential election set for October 26, all candidates who were on the original presidential ballot must be included on that ballot. The electoral commission had been planning to only let the top two candidates into the new election. See this story. The case was brought and won by Ekuru Aukot, who had come in fifth in the original election, out of eight candidates. The High Court had earlier ruled that the first election was invalid due to unfair and illegal violations of the election law, and had said the election must be run again. The first election had been held on August 8.

Florida Bill to Force State and Local Office-Holders to Resign if they Run for Federal Office

Posted on by October 11, 2017
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Even though the Florida legislature doesn’t convene until January 9, 2018, Florida legislative committees are already working on 2018 bills. On October 11, SB 45 passed the Senate Ethics and Elections Committee. It says that elected state and local officials who want to run for federal office must first resign their state or local position. See this story. The bill is sponsored by Senator Travis Hutson (R-Elkton).

Such “resign-to-run” laws have generally been upheld by courts. They do not run afoul of the principle that states can’t add to the qualifications to run for federal office, because they don’t block anyone from running for Congress. But, they do force potential federal candidates to take an action that they would probably rather not do.