Puerto Rico has elections for important office only every four years, not every two years. The Puerto Rico Delegate to the U.S. House, and the Governor, have four-year terms, up in presidential election years.

The federal National Voter Registration Act of 1993 requires that states (as well as Puerto Rico) not remove voters from the registration rolls unless or until they miss two elections. But Puerto Rico law says voters should be removed from the rolls if they miss voting in one election.

On October 17, a U.S. District Court in Puerto Rico ruled that the federal law has precedence over Puerto Rico law, and ordered that the 330,902 voters who had been removed from the registration rolls because they didn’t vote in 2008 be restored to the rolls. But late on October 18, the First Circuit reversed that, saying it isn’t practical to put the voters back on the rolls. They cannot now vote, because it is too late for them to re-register. The First Circuit vote was 2-1. The majority include Judges Kermit Lipez, a Clinton appointee; and Jeffrey Howard, a Bush Jr. appointee. The dissenter is Judge Juan Torruella. On October 19, one of the voters who had filed the case asked for a rehearing en banc. The case is Colon-Marrero v Conty-Perez, no. 12-2145 in the First Circuit. UPDATE: the U.S. government takes the position that the 1993 federal law on voter registration does not apply to Puerto Rico. See here. Thanks to Marty Lederman for that link.

Puerto Rico is voting in November not only for Governor, and for Delegate to the U.S. House, but on a ballot measure about the future status of the island. Voters are first asked if they favor the status quo or not. Then, they are asked which of these three options they prefer, should the status quo change: (1) independence; (2) statehood; (3) a recognition that Puerto Rico is a sovereign nation but one which would continue to be linked to the U.S. government in many ways. The intense interest in this ballot question makes the decision to exclude 330,902 voters especially contentious.

The First Circuit has decided two other Puerto Rico election law cases this month as well. On October 19 the First Circuit enjoined a Puerto Rico law that makes it illegal for labor unions to make independent expenditures about candidates. That case is Sindicato Puertorriqueno de Trabajadores v Fortuno, 12-2171. Also, on October 2, the First Circuit declined to offer any relief to a candidate for Governor who had been kept off his party’s primary ballot on the grounds that he had been charged with sexual harassment. The First Circuit said that is a case for the Puerto Rico courts. That case is Gonzalez-Cancel v Partido Nuevo Progressista, 12-1243.

Southern Maryland Online has this interesting story about Rob Sobhani, who is an independent candidate for U.S. Senate in Maryland. He has already spent $4,600,000 on his campaign, and is in second place in the polls, ahead of the Republican nominee but behind incumbent Senator Benjamin Cardin, a Democrat.

Sobhani has roots in Iran. The fourth candidate in the race, Libertarian nominee, Dean Ahmad, has Palestinian roots. Southern Maryland Online is an on-line newspaper that serves Charles, Calvert, and St. Marys Counties.

Sobhani will probably set a new record for a U.S. Senate candidate in Maryland who is not a major party nominee. The highest share of the vote in Maryland history for anyone running for U.S. Senate, who is not a major party nominee, is 13.1%. That was obtained in 1968 by George Mahoney, an independent who was opposed to civil rights laws concerning discrimination in housing.