On April 2, U.S. District Court Judge Elizabeth K. Dillon ruled against the Virginia Republican 24th Senatorial District Committee, in its lawsuit that sought the right to nominate by convention this year, instead of by primary. Virginia law says normally a qualified party can decide whether to nominate by primary or convention. But when the party has an incumbent who is running for re-election, he or she can override the party’s wishes and determine the nomination method.

The local party committee that filed the lawsuit wants to use a convention, but the incumbent State Senator wants a primary. The decision does not reach the merits of the dispute. Instead, it finds that the state party rules themselves do not give the local committees the right to challenge the state law. The state party rules say, “The Legislative District Committee shall determine whether candidates for Legislative District public office shall be nominated by Mass Meeting, Party Canvass, Convention or Primary, where permitted to do so under Virginia law.” The existence of those last eight words, according to the ruling, means that the state party wants the local parties to follow state law. Therefore, the state party presumably does not want the legislative district committees to challenge state law.

The decision also points out that the state Republican Party did not intervene in this lawsuit to suggest that its rules mean anything different. The case is Adams v Alcorn, w.d., 5:15cv-12.

Although British press coverage of the 7-party debate on April 2 has been extensive, no U.S. news outlet seems to have covered the event. If anyone finds a link to a U.S. newspaper that does mention the debate, please comment. UPDATE: Gene Armistead sent me this link, by the Associated Press, but it appears to have been written minutes before the debate started, instead of afterwards. The story switches tenses throughout, between what happened and what is expected to happen.

UPDATE: here is a link to the 2-hour debate, from Green Party Watch.

Here is a BBC news story on the aftermath of the debate, with quotations from leaders of all seven parties on their reactions to the debate.

On March 5, Maine State Senator Roger Katz (R-Augusta) introduced LD 744, to let independent voters vote in any party’s primary ballot. The bill has nine co-sponsors and is pending in the Joint Committee on Veterans and Legal Affairs. Here is a copy of the bill, which is only three sentences long. The bill does not say that independent voters can sign a petition to get a candidate on a primary ballot.

Other states that tell parties they must let independents vote in their primaries, even if those independents don’t join the party on primary day, include Arizona, Massachusetts, and Nebraska. Currently, any Maine voter can join a qualified party on primary election day and vote in its primary. Thanks to Thomas MacMillan for the news.