On October 17, Indiana appealed Common Cause Indiana v Indiana Secretary of State to the 7th Circuit. This is the case over whether Indiana can tell political parties that they can only nominate for half the seats up, in partisan judicial races in Indianapolis. U.S. District Court Judge Richard Young had invalidated the system on October 9.

Limited nominations laws were passed to keep the dominant political party from winning all the seats. In other jurisdictions with limited nominations laws, such as Pennsylvania, Connecticut, and the District of Columbia, limited nomination laws make it possible for independent and minor party candidates to more easily win. But Indiana has very strict ballot access laws, so minor party and independent candidates almost never get on the ballot for judge in Indianapolis. As a consequences, voters inevitably face a general election ballot with only Democrats and Republicans. Since each of those parties can only run for half the seats, the voters have no real choice; all the candidates on the ballot automatically win. The last time anyone other than a Democrat or a Republican ran was in 2002, when a single Libertarian ran.

One of the oddest parts of the U.S. District Court decision is that Judge Young found that Common Cause has standing to challenge the system. Normally, a restriction on the ability of a political party to nominate as many candidates as it wishes would be challenged by a political party, but in this case, no political party complained.

On October 15, The Oregonian, Portland’s daily newspaper, endorsed measure 90, the top-two system. The newspaper endorsed the same proposal in 2008, the year it was defeated in Oregon by a vote of 2-1.

The editorial’s main point is that U.S. House races in Oregon are now perpetually safe for incumbents. But if Measure 90 were in effect, there is no reason to think U.S. House races in Oregon would be any more exciting. Washington state has been using top-two starting in 2008, and no incumbent member of the U.S. House from Washington has been defeated, or even come close to being defeated, since top-two has been in effect.

The treasurer of Buena Vista County, Iowa, was running for re-election this year, unopposed. However, after the ballots were printed, she died. According to this story, Sheri Elbert has now declared as a write-in candidate, and so far there are no other write-in candidates.

This illustrates one reason why it is rational for states to include write-in space on ballots. Also it illustrates that it is a bad idea for states to require write-in candidates to file a declaration of candidacy months before an election, as Florida, North Carolina, and Ohio do.

Iowa does not have a requirement that write-in candidates must file a declaration of candidacy in advance of the election. Theoretically, all write-in votes in Iowa are valid. However, Iowa does not generally canvass write-in votes, unless there is a hint that a write-in candidate might have polled enough write-ins to win.