On September 24, Roanoke College released a U.S. Senate poll for Virginia. The results: Democratic incumbent Mark Warner 46%; Republican Ed Gillespie 27%; Libertarian Robert Sarvis 5%; undecided 22%. See here for more details. The undecided figure is surprisingly high. Thanks to PoliticalWire for the link.
On September 20, independent candidate Scott Smith won his ballot access lawsuit, and he has now been restored to the November ballot as a candidate for U.S. House, 18th district. His ballot label is “Mr. Smith for Congress.” He is the only candidate on the ballot, other than the nominees of the Democratic and Republican Parties.
He submitted 5,000 signatures; 3,500 are needed. His petition was challenged by individuals associated with the Republican Party. The challenge was based on the fact that one of his circulators used a different postal address (when he signed the bottom of the petition sheets) than the address at which he is registered to vote. The trial court, the Supreme Court in Orange County, ruled that was no reason to invalidate those petitions. The same issue had surfaced in the recent Illinois Libertarian challenge. The New York case is Smith v Blanchette, 6925-2014. Another number associated with the case is 15918-2014. UPDATE: see this story.
On August 21, the New York State Supreme Court, Appellate Division, in Albany, agreed with the lower court, and validated a petition for a Democratic candidate for State Senate. The petition had been challenged on the basis that the candidate had pre-printed the name of a particular town on many sheets. Obviously she and her circulators only intended to use such petitions in that particular town. The Court says nothing in the election law prohibits such a practice. Collins v New York State Board of Elections, 519457. Here is the 4-page opinion. Thanks to Bill Van Allen for the link.
On September 22, the Oregon Green Party gubernatorial nominee, Jason Levin, crashed a gubernatorial debate to which only the Democratic and Republican nominees had been invited. See this story in the Oregonian. Levin entered the debate near the midpoint and was allowed to continue to participate.
Nebraska election law does not permit qualified parties to substitute new nominees past September 1. However, on September 17, a state trial court refused to prevent the Republican Party from adding a new Lieutenant Governor running mate to the November ballot. See this story. The original nominee resigned as Lieutenant Governor on September 9 and did not desire to run for a new term. The new nominee was named on September 15. The case is State ex rel Elworth v Gale, Lancaster Co., C114-3204. Here is the two-page court order.
