On September 6, an NBC/Marist Poll was released for Kentucky Senate. The results: Republican McConnell 47%; Democrat Grimes 39%; Libertarian Patterson 8%; undecided 6%. Although I am away from home for a 3-week vacation and can’t check the records, my memory tells me that no minor party or independent candidate for U.S. Senate has ever polled as much as 8% in Kentucky. Thanks to PoliticalWire for the poll.
On September 3, the Pennsylvania Green, Libertarian, and Constitution Parties filed expert evidence in Green Party of Pennsylvania v Aichele, the pending case that challenges various aspects of the Pennsylvania ballot access petition process. The expert, handwriting analyst Michelle Dresbold, shows (1) an expert can detect instances of the forgery of many names on a petition by a single individual, without the need to look at the signatures voter registration records; (2) the handwriting of many individuals changes drastically over time, so that checking the signatures on petitions with signatures on voter registration records is sometimes unreliable; (3) furthermore, signatures change when the signature is made very rapidly, as is often the case when signing a petition, relative to signing a voter registration record; (4) the Pennsylvania SURE record of the appearance of signatures on voter registration forms is faulty because it is electronic and the technology is faulty.
This evidence will be used to criticize the current Pennsylvania petition-checking process.
On September 5, the Michigan State Appeals Court ruled that if an individual signs a petition twice, neither signature counts. As a result, a recall election in the city of Benton Harbor is now removed from the ballot. The trial court had ruled that one signature does count. The recall petition only has enough valid signatures if the signatures of voters who signed twice are counted as one valid signature.
Recall proponents have asked the Michigan Supreme Court to reverse the State Appeals Court.
On September 4, a We Ask America poll was released for the Illinois gubernatorial race. The results: Republican Bruce Rauner 46%; Democrat Pat Quinn 37%; Libertarian Chad Grimm 7%; undecided 10%. If the Libertarian Party gets 5%, it will be ballot-qualified for all office. Since the vote test was set at 5% in 1931, only two parties other than the Democratic and Republican Parties have held that status: Illinois Solidarity 1986-1990 and Green 2006-2010.
According to this story, an attorney associated with the Illinois Republican Party has filed a lawsuit in state court, seeking to remove the statewide Libertarian Party slate from the November ballot.
