Common Cause has published this report, explaining that in many states, there are very few choices on general election ballots for state legislature. The report especially singles out eight states in which most state legislative races only have one candidate on the November ballot for state legislature. Those states are Arkansas, Georgia, Massachusetts, South Carolina, Rhode Island, Illinois, Texas, and New Mexico.

This report is very important, because this problem gets virtually no attention from voting rights organizations. Unfortunately, the Common Cause report implies that the problem is caused entirely by gerrymandering. The truth is that the main reason for the lack of candidates are restrictive ballot access laws. Thanks to Thomas Jones for the link to the report.

On October 26, three voters in New York filed a federal lawsuit against the New York law that makes it illegal for anyone to photograph one’s voted ballot and show the picture to anyone else. Silberberg v Board of Elections, s.d. See this story, which reveals that 15 states have laws like this.

The story is in the New York Post, which, for some reason, uses a picture of a Washington state ballot, not a New York ballot.

On October 25, WJZ-TV hosted a U.S. Senate debate for the Democratic and Republican nominees for U.S. Senate in Maryland. Three candidates are on the ballot, a Democrat, Green, and Republican, but the only two candidates invited to debate were the Democratic and Republican nominees. The sponsor said only candidates who were at 15% were invited. However, no poll for the U.S. Senate race in Maryland has been taken during October that asked voters to choose among the three ballot-listed candidates.

Here is a story about the protest carried out by Margaret Flowers, the Green nominee. The debate was taped and has not been aired on television yet. It will be aired the evening of October 26, but it is extremely likely that the first 20 minutes will be edited out.