On November 27, Ohio filed this brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in Susan B. Anthony List v Driehaus, 13-193. The issue is Ohio’s law that makes it illegal for anyone to make a false statement in a campaign ad, whether about candidates or about ballot measures. The state argues that the U.S. Supreme Court should not take this case. The state argues that the Susan B. Anthony List (which had been sued by a congressional candidate for allegedly saying the candidate favored using taxpayer money to pay for abortions) was never threatened with prosecution, and therefore this is not a proper lawsuit for determining whether the Ohio law violates the First Amendment.

On December 3, Virginia Delegate Joe T. May announced he has left the Republican Party and, if there is a special State Senate Election in district 33, he will run as an independent. May was elected as a Republican to the House of Delegates in 1993 and has been re-elected ever since, except that in the June 2013 Republican primary, he was defeated for re-election by a vote of 2,958 to 2,201.

There will be a special State Senate election in the 33rd district if the incumbent, Mark Herring, resigns from the Senate. Herring was apparently elected Attorney General on November 5, but the election is so close, there will be a recount, so Herring won’t resign his Senate seat until that is settled.

May decided to leave the Republican Party because he is unhappy with the Republican Party’s plans to hold a nominating convention in Sterling, Virginia, on the evening of December 16, to select a Republican nominee, assuming there will be a special election. May says a small handful of party officials decided on that site and it will prevent may voters from participating.

Meanwhile, the control of the Virginia State Senate between the two major parties is unknown. Here is a fascinating article describing the byzantine rules that will determine who gets to set the dates for future State Senate special elections, and how the timing will affect control of the Senate.

Paul Zukerberg, a candidate for Attorney General of the District of Columbia, has re-filed his lawsuit to force the District to hold an election for that post. He originally filed in the District’s own court system, but the D.C. government moved the case to U.S. District Court. The U.S. District Court ruled against Zukerberg on a technicality. Zukerberg has now re-filed, and is back in the D.C. court system. See this story. The story says the first court date won’t be until February 28, but it seems likely Zukerberg can get the case expedited, because the primary is April 1.

The voters of D.C. passed a charter amendment saying that voters would start electing Attorney General in 2014, but the District doesn’t want to hold the election until 2018. The ballot language specified that the first election would be in 2014, but the actual text of the amendment (which wasn’t printed on the ballot) said the city could decide when to start electing that office.