Michigan Secretary of State Ruth Johnson may be required to appear in U.S. District Court in Detroit, according to this story. The lawsuit involves a checkbox that asks voters who sign in at the polls to indicate that they are citizens. The U.S. District Court Judge who is hearing this case is Judge Paul Borman, the same judge who ruled in favor of the Secretary of State when the Libertarian Party sued her to put its presidential nominee on the ballot.
Democracy Now! web page has a link to the “three-hour” presidential debate, which includes Jill Stein and Rocky Anderson. The reason it is twice as long as the Commission on Presidential Debates is that the format paused the CPD debate and gave equal time to the two minor party presidential candidates who attended the Democracy Now! event in a church in Denver.
The introduction says that Gary Johnson had been invited to the event, but that he chose not to participate. Instead, he issued live commentary about the debate via Google Plus Hangout and Twitter. IndependentPoliticalReport has this link to the Johnson responses.
One of the disadvantages of both approaches is that, probably, everyone interested in the presidential election prefers to watch the CPD debate live, because it is very newsworthy. Democracy Now! would probably get more viewers if it simply deleted the Obama and Romney portions, and let viewers watch the Anderson and Stein responses, so that the viewer interested in their responses isn’t forced to sit through the Obama-Romney portions all over again.
On October 2, Calvin Zastrow won his case against Montana over two issues that arose when he was arrested earlier in the year while petitioning for an initiative. He had been collecting signatures on public property at a Billings sports complex called MetraPark. He was charged with trespassing. Zastrow then filed a federal lawsuit, charging the arrest was illegal. He also attacked a 99-year-old Montana state law that bans ministers, priests, preachers, or other church officers from urging, persuading, or commanding any voter “to vote or refrain from voting for or against any candidate, political party ticket, or ballot issue.”
Even though Zastrow had not been charged with breaking this law, the Court found he had standing to challenge it. The state settled the case by admitting that the ban on speech by officers of a church is unconstitutional, and also by admitting that Zastrow had a right to be petitioning at MetraPark. See this story. The lawsuit is Zastrow v Bullock, 1:12-cv-18.
Zastrow is a past state chair of the Michigan Constitution Party and a past national field officer for the party. The initiative he was working for relates to abortion. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.
On October 3, U.S. District Court Judge Charles Lovell enjoined Montana’s contribution limits for state office, which are $130 for legislature, and $500 for Governor/Lieutenant Governor. Here is the brief five-page order, which does not explain the judge’s reasoning; that will come later. However, it is clear that the basis is that the limits are too low. The case is Lair v Murry, cv 12-12. The decision also enjoins the limits on how much political parties may give to their own nominees. Thanks to Rick Hasen for this news.
On October 3, Public Policy Polling released a poll for the U.S. Senate race in Missouri. The results: Democratic incumbent Claire McCasill 46%, Republican Todd Akin 40%, Libertarian Jonathan Dine 9%, undecided 5%.
In the entire history of U.S. Senate elections in Missouri, no candidate other than the Democratic or Republican nominee has ever polled as much as 5%. Missouri, and the nation, have been holding popular general elections for U.S. Senate starting in 1914. Thanks to PoliticalWire for the link.
