The August 23 Roanoke Times has this editorial, saying the Virginia U.S. Senate debates this year would be better if the third candidate on the ballot, Libertarian Rob Sarvis, were included.
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On August 22, attorneys for Pennsylvania asked two different U.S. District Courts to consolidate the two pending minor party constitutional ballot access cases, Green Party of Pennsylvania v Aichele, and Constitution Party of Pennsylvania v Aichele. Both are pending in the eastern district in Philadelphia.
The Constitution Party case challenges the court costs that are imposed when a petition is submitted that doesn’t have enough valid signatures. The Green Party case challenges the ban on out-of-state circulators, the restriction on signers living in different counties signing the same sheet, the restriction that only registered voters (as opposed to people eligible to register) may sign, and notarization of each sheet.
The two cases have different judges. It is not clear which judge would take over the two cases if they were consolidated.
On August 22, California Governor Jerry Brown signed AB 2233. It eases the number of signatures in lieu of filing fee, in special elections. The rationale is that in special elections, the petitioning period is shorter than in regular elections. In some special elections in the past, the petitioning period has been as short as two days.
California has had procedures for petitions in lieu of the filing fee since 1974. For statewide office, they are 10,000 signatures; for U.S. House and State Senate, 3,000 signatures; for Assembly, 1,500 signatures. Partial completion of the in lieu petition means that the filing fee is proportionately reduced. The filing fees for statewide office are 2% of the annual salary of the office being sought; for district office, 1%.
Reid Wilson of the Washington Post has this article about a study by political scientists John Mikesell and Cheol Liu of corruption convictions of state employees. The study covers 1976 through 2008 and finds that Oregon has the lowest rate of convictions of state employees. Thanks to Dan Tokaji for the link.
On August 21, several Massachusetts newspapers hosted a debate between two candidates for Governor of Massachusetts, neither of whom is a major party nominee. The debate was between Evan Falchuk, nominee of the United Independent Party, and Jeffrey McCormick, an independent candidate. See this detailed description of the event.