On November 13, U.S. District Court Judge Mark Fuller refused to put James Hall on the Alabama ballot as an independent candidate for U.S. House in the upcoming special election being held on December 17. The issue was whether a state is required to give more time, or relax the number of signatures, when the petitioning period is much shorter than usual.
On November 13, U.S. District Court Judge Michael H. Watson enjoined Ohio’s law that makes it illegal for out-of-state circulators to work in Ohio. The decision is 27 pages. The case is Citizens in Charge v Husted, southern district, 2:13cv-953.
The Ohio law had been struck down before in a case brought by Ralph Nader. In response, the legislature this year passed the restriction again, with an exemption for independent presidential candidate petitioners. Today’s decision says that there is no good reason to treat some petitions differently than others. UPDATE: here is a news story about the decision.
According to this story, William Fitzpatrick, District of Attorney of Onondaga County now in his sixth term, says he now favors public funding of campaigns for the New York legislature. Fitzpatrick is a Republican and describes himself as a conservative. He is one of the three members of the Commission to Investigate Public Corruption. Thanks to the Center for Competitive Politics for the link.
The Virginia State Board of Elections has posted these election returns for the three statewide offices elected on November 5, 2013. The tally shows the Democratic nominee for Attorney General won by 106 votes. The returns are labeled “unofficial” and the Republican nominee is considered certain to ask for a recount after they are official.
Kshama Sawant, the Socialist Alternative Party candidate for Seattle city council, has pulled into a very narrow lead as more votes are counted in her race. The election is non-partisan. Two candidates were on the ballot, Sawant, and the incumbent councilmember. See this story. Thanks to Jim Riley and Pete Healey for this news. There are still many ballots to be counted. Generally, Oregon and Washington election returns on election night are more incomplete than the returns of any other state, because those two states use virtually all-mail ballots, and it takes a longer time to count them.
The Birmingham News has this story about James Hall’s ballot access lawsuit. Hall is an independent candidate for U.S. House, First District, in the special election being held December 17. The court hearing in U.S. District Court is at 1:30 p.m. in Montgomery, Wednesday, November 13.