On October 9, Quinnipiac University released a poll for the Connecticut gubernatorial race. The results: Democratic incumbent Dannel Malloy 43%; Republican 43%; independent Joe Visconti 9%; undecided 5%. See this story.
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U.S. District Court Judge Myron Thompson will hear oral arguments in Hall v Bennett, middle district, 2:13cv-663, on November 13 at 10 a.m. This is the case over whether the state must cut the number of signatures, or extend the deadline, in special congressional elections, because the petitioning time is so much shorter than in regular elections. The plaintiff in this particular case is an independent candidate, but the case applies equally to minor party petitions.
This case was filed in 2013. It had already had an oral argument earlier this year, but then the case was transferred to a different judge.
On October 7, the Charles County, Maryland, Republican Central Committee resolved to ask the state party to let independent voters vote in Republican primaries in 2016. See this story.
The story quotes Todd Eberly, a political science professor, as saying that to his knowledge, Maryland has never had a major primary in which independent voters could vote. However, in 2000, the Maryland Republican Party let independents vote in its primary.
On October 8, Survey USA released a poll for the U.S. Senate race in South Dakota. The results: Republican Mike Rounds 35%; independent Larry Pressler 32%; Democrat Rick Weiland 28%; independent Gordon Howie 3%; undecided 2%. See here for more detail. This is the first poll to have shown Pressler in second place. Thanks to Political Wire for the link.
On October 7, the Republican nominee for Connecticut Comptroller, Sharon McLaughlin, debated the Green Party nominee for that office, Rolf Maurer. The Democratic nominee, Kevin Lembo, did not choose to participate. See this story. The part of the story about the Comptroller’s debate is past the midway point in the article. Most of the story is about the proposed Treasurer’s debate, which did not take place because the Democratic nominee did not appear. There are only two candidates on the Connecticut ballot for Treasurer, the Democratic and Republican nominees.