On January 25, 2013, the District of Columbia Court of Appeals denied Ralph Nader’s request for a rehearing in Nader v Serody, 09-cv-906. This means that the individuals who challenged Ralph Nader’s petition in Pennsylvania in 2004 are now free to obtain $56,928 from Nader’s bank account in Washington, D.C. However, the order does not go into effect until April 25, to give Nader an opportunity to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to block the fund seizure. It is possible Nader will indeed ask the U.S. Supreme Court to hear this case.

The District of Columbia Court of Appeals had ruled against Nader in this matter on May 10, 2012, but Nader had asked for a reconsideration, which had been pending for over eight months. The District of Columbia Court of Appeals is analogous to the State Supreme Court of the District of Columbia; it is the highest court in the District’s own court system, and should not be confused with the U.S. Court of Appeals, D.C. Circuit.

According to this article, leaders of the New York legislature have expressed opposition to changing the September primary date for non-federal primary elections. Yet the New York City Board of Elections says a September primary for Mayor this year will cause great problems, because there isn’t enough time for a September primary and then a run-off primary.

According to Michael Drucker’s The Independent View, the State Board of Elections is now thinking seriously about using Instant-Runoff Voting for New York city mayoral primaries. The law requires a run-off primary if no one gets at least 40% of the vote in the primary itself.

Seven New York Assemblymenbers have introduced A1464, which deletes the requirement that a petition circulator must live in the district of the candidate whose petition is being circulated. This residency requirement for candidates (for both primary petitions and general election petitions) has already been held unconstitutional, so the bill, if passed, would merely update the election code so that it follows existing policy.