On October 1, independent presidential candidate Shiva Ayyadurai appealed his Wisconsin ballot access case to the Seventh Circuit. Marshall v Wisconsin Election Commission, 24-2746. He submitted enough valid signatures to be on in Wisconsin, but was kept off because he was born in India. The U.S. District Court had dismissed his case in a four-page order, calling it “frivolous”.
On October 17, U.S. District Court Judge John M. Gerrard, an Obama appointee, issued an order in Lauters v Evnen, 4:24cv-03175. It denies the request of Shiva Ayyadurai to be placed on the Nebraska ballot as an independent presidential candidate. The petition had enough valid signatures, but he was kept off the ballot because he was born in India.
The decision says that the March 2024 U.S. Supreme Court decision Trump v Anderson only pertains to the “Insurrection clause” of the 14th amendment, but the Nebraska decision does not quote from Trump v Anderson, and if one reads Trump v Anderson carefully, it does not limit its holding to that part of the Constitution.
In 2006, a U.S. District Court in Ohio struck down Ohio laws that say when a voter is challenged at the polls on the grounds of citizenship, he or she must produce proof of citizenship on the spot, at the polls. Afterwards, Ohio election officials stopped doing that, and instead someone who is challenged must be allowed to vote upon stating under penalty of perjury that he or she is eligible.
But in October 2024, Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose revived the old procedures, not withstanding the 2006 decision. Here is the brief filed by the ACLU to stop the Secretary’s recent action. The action is filed in the original 2006 lawsuit, which is now called Boustani v LaRose, n.d., 1:06cv-2065. It is not known which U.S. District Court judge has the case.
On October 23, the New York Times ran this story about some minor party and independent presidential candidates. It features Cornel West, Jill Stein, Chase Oliver, and Claudia De la Cruz, in that order.
But the story fails to say that New York state is the only state in which no minor party or independent candidates are on the presidential ballot, even though the national Libertarian Party sent out a press release about this a week earlier. In fact, it appears no general media in New York state have mentioned this startling fact.
The New York Times story is also odd because it doesn’t mention Randall Terry, the Constitution Party nominee. Although he is only on the ballot in twelve states (whereas Cornel West is on in fifteen states), the states in which Terry is on the ballot have more voters than the states in which West is on the ballot.
On October 25, the Fifth Circuit issued an opinion in Republican National Committee v Wetzel, 24-60395. It says that Mississippi cannot count ballots received in the postal mail later than election day. The decision interprets federal law to mean that all ballots received after election day are void.
The lower court had upheld Mississippi’s law. The Fifth Circuit opinion conflicts with many other precedents from other circuits.
The decision is by Judge Andrew Oldham and is also signed by Judges James Ho and Kyle Duncan. All three are Trump appointees.
The judges determined that their ruling should not go into effect until 2025.
