On October 18, the Ohio Supreme Court voted 4-3 to place independent candidate Darrita Davis on the Akron, Ohio ballot for City Council. The election is November 5, 2013, and the ballots will now be reprinted to include her. She petitioned as an independent candidate. Her petition was valid but she was still kept off the ballot by the Board of Elections because she had voted in the March 2012 Democratic primary, and in April 2013 had bought a ticket to a Democratic Party event that cost $25, and in June 2013 she had bought a ticket to another Democratic Party event that cost $20.

Ohio law is very vague, on who can qualify as an independent candidate. The law says an independent candidate must be any candidate “who does not consider himself affiliated with a political party.” Ohio does not ask voters to choose a party, or independent status, on voter registration forms. As the majority decision says, “One cannot register with the Secretary of State’s office as an independent.”

Here is the decision, which is State ex rel Davis v Summit County Board of Elections, 2013-4616. The majority opinion is 9 pages. One dissent follows which is two pages, and then another dissent, which is only one page.

The Ohio Supreme Court and the Pennsylvania Supreme Court have both been very good on ballot access for the last few years.

On October 10, the ACLU filed a lawsuit on behalf of two individuals who have organized statewide initiative petition drives in Arkansas in the recent past, and who hope to sponsor new initiatives in the near future. The lawsuit challenges restrictions placed on initiatives by the 2013 session of the legislature. The case is Spencer v Sealy, Pulaski Circuit Court, 60cv-13-4020. Here is the Complaint.

The challenged restrictions include: (1) the names and addresses of all paid circulators must be filed with the Secretary of State before those petitioners can start to work; (2) paid circulators must sign an oath that they have not been convicted of certain kinds of crime; (3) they must submit a picture of themselves that was taken within the last 90 days; (4) if a petition sheet contains the signature of even one voter who is from the wrong county for that sheet, the entire sheet is invalid; (5) the law makes it a criminal offense for a circulator to fill in any blanks on behalf of the voter, unless the voter is “disabled” (the law doesn’t define “disabled”); (6) if a petition sheet contains even one signature that has a “material defect” the entire sheet is invalid (the law doesn’t define “material defect”).

There will be a trial next month. This is the type of lawsuit that requires considerable evidence. The lawsuit is filed in state court because the state Constitution protects the initiative process, so the plaintiffs will argue that the new restrictions violate the State Constitution. Thanks to Paul Jacob for this news.

On October 16, both houses of Congress voted on HB 2775, the bill to re-open the federal government. Republicans who voted on the bill include 231 in the U.S. House and 45 in the U.S. Senate, totaling 276 Republican votes on the bill.

Among those 276 Republicans who voted on the bill, 135 were from states with open Republican primaries, 39 from states with semi-closed Republican primaries, 24 from states with a top-two primary, and 78 from states with closed Republican primaries. “Semi-closed” means that independents were permitted to vote in any party’s primary, although sometimes they had to join that party at the primary polling place immediately prior to voting.

Among the open primary states, 43 Republicans voted in favor of HR 2775, which was only 31.9% of all Republicans from those states who voted on the bill.

Among the semi-closed primary states, 23 Republicans voted “yes”, which was 59.0% of all Republicans from those states who voted on the bill.

Among the top-two primary states, 13 Republicans voted “yes”, which was 54.2% of all Republicans from those states who voted on the bill.

Finally, among the closed primary states, 35 Republicans voted “yes”, which was 44.9% of all Republicans from those states who voted on the bill.

States with open Republican primaries are Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and Wisconsin. States with semi-closed Republican primaries are Alaska, Arizona, Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Utah, West Virginia, and Wyoming. States with top-two primaries are California, Louisiana, and Washington. States with closed Republican primaries are Colorado, Florida, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and South Dakota. The states not named have no Republicans in Congress: Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Vermont.