On October 22, Evan Falchuk, gubernatorial nominee of the United Independent Party of Massachusetts, filed a lawsuit in state court, seeking to regain his invitation to the October 27 debate. See this story. The basis for the lawsuit is breach of contract.
According to this story, a poll for the Maine U.S. House race, First District, shows that although the Democratic incumbent is far in the lead, the independent in the race is outpolling the Republican nominee. The results are: Democrat Chellie Pingree 51.4%; independent Richard Murphy 10.4%; Republican Isaac Misiuk 8.7%; undecided 29.5%. Thanks to Thomas MacMillan for the link.
On September 16, U.S. District Court Judge S. Arthur Spiegel, a Carter appointee, ruled that Ohio must let people who are in jail, but who haven’t been convicted of a crime because they are awaiting trial, vote absentee.
The state already generally lets such people vote absentee, but for those individuals who happen to be arrested after 6 p.m. on the Friday before election day, and who are still in jail on election day, voting is impossible. The order requires the state to send election officials to jails to make it possible for them to cast absentee ballots. Fair Elections Ohio v Husted, s.d., 1:12cv-797. One might think that the number of persons in jail who had been arrested after 3 p.m. on the Friday before election is a very small number of people. But the plaintiffs showed that there were 400 such individuals in Ohio in the 2012 election. The case had been pending since 2012.
Judge Spiegel is one of the nation’s oldest federal judges. He will be age 94 on October 24, 2014.
The Portland (Oregon) Mercury is that city’s leading free weekly alternate newspaper, and has existed since 2000. Here are the Mercury’s recommendations for all the statewide ballot measures. Scroll down to the discussion of Measure 90, the top-two ballot measure. The newspaper endorses the “no” position.
On October 20, the four ballot-listed candidates for Secretary of State of Minnesota debated. They are the nominees of the Democratic, Republican, Independence, and Libertarian Parties. See this story.
