On August 16, Montana Democrats will meet in convention and choose a new U.S. Senate nominee, to replace the winner of the party’s June primary, who since has resigned from the race. See this story. Thanks to Mike Fellows for the link.
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On August 11, the California Supreme Court removed Proposition 49 from the November 2014 ballot. That measure asks the voters if they want members of Congress and of the legislature to work for a constitutional amendment overturning Citizens United v Federal Election Commission. One Justice wanted to keep the measure on the ballot. One justice wrote extensively to say why it should not be on the ballot. The other five justices expressed no opinion on the merits, so theoretically, when the Court issues a complete opinion (instead of just an order), it is possible the measure might be on a future ballot, such as the June 2016 ballot. The case is Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association v Bowen. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.
The Morristown Daily Record has this story about ballot order in New Jersey, and the August 11 drawing held by the Morris County Elections Office to determine order of candidates on the ballot who are not Republican or Democratic nominees.
On August 11, a New York Supreme Court Justice in Albany ruled that Zephyr Teachout does meet New York’s State Constitutional requirement that governors and gubernatorial candidates must have resided in New York state for the preceding five years. Zephyr is the leading opponent of Governor Andrew Cuomo in the September Democratic gubernatorial primary. Here is the twelve-page decision, Weiss v Teachout, 700014/14.
Supporters of Cuomo had also challenged Teachout’s petition earlier this year, but had abandoned that tactic. She needed 15,000 signatures of enrolled Democrats and had submitted 45,000 signatures. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.
On August 4, Arizona State Senator Chester Crandell was found dead. He had been running for re-election in the August 26 Republican primary, and his name was the only name on that primary ballot. Arizona does not permit write-in candidates to file within two months of any primary or general, which defeats the purpose of having write-in space on the ballots in this instance. Some states waive the filing deadline for declared write-in candidates in cases like this, but Arizona does not.
As a result, Crandell will be renominated on August 26, and then Republican Party officials in the district will choose a replacement nominee. See this story, which discusses the fact that a former state legislator, Tom O’Halleran, is running in this district in November as an independent candidate. The story suggests that these unexpected events will make it more likely that O’Halleran will win. If he did, he would be the first independent candidate ever elected to the Arizona legislature since Arizona has been a state.