On September 29, the plaintiff in Strait v Fenumiai said he won’t appeal the decision of the Alaska state trial court. The trial court had ruled that if the state lets parties substitute a new nominee for Lieutenant Governor, then the state must let independent tickets have the same flexibility.

Bill Walker, independent candidate for Governor, had petitioned for a place on the ballot with a particular Lieutenant Governor running mate. Later that original Lieutenant Governor candidate withdrew and Walker added the Democratic nominee for Governor (who had withdrawn from the gubernatorial race) as his Lieutenant Governor running mate. The state elections office had accepted this change, but then a Republican Party official had sued to stop the switch. But the challenger lost in trial court, and he won’t appeal. See this story.

All five candidates who are on the ballot for Governor of Massachusetts participated in a televised debate. See this story.

On September 28, David Patterson, Libertarian nominee for U.S. Senate in Kentucky, sued Kentucky Educational TV for refusing to invite him into the only U.S. Senate debate in Kentucky this year. Libertarian National Committee v Holliday, eastern district, 3:14cv-63. The case is assigned to U.S. District Court Judge Gregory VanTatenhove, a Bush Jr. appointee.

The lawsuit charges that the station’s original criterion for an invitation to the debate, which Patterson met, was changed with the intent to exclude him. Polls have shown Patterson above 5%. The original rules required a 5% showing, but after the poll came out, the station altered its rules to require a higher level of support. Here is the Complaint. The text is 22 pages and the additional pages are copies of internal communications within Kentucky Educational TV.