Recently, a poll of the Montana U.S. Senate race showed these results: Tester (Dem. incumbent) 44%, Rehberg (Republican) 42%, Cox (Libertarian) 8%, undecided 6%.
A poll of the Nevada U.S. Senate race showed: Heller (Rep. incumbent) 47%, Berkeley (Democrat) 44%, Vanderbeek (Independent American) 4%, other or undecided 5%. Thanks to Mike for these.
The Alameda County, California Superior Court that is hearing Rubin v Bowen will hold oral arguments in Oakland on October 29 at 9 a.m. Rubin v Bowen is the case filed by the Peace & Freedom, Libertarian, and Alameda County Green Parties, against the restriction of voting rights in the general election caused by Prop. 14, the top-two primary measure.
No California court has yet ruled on the issues in this case. The lawsuits filed in San Francisco did not concern these issues. The U.S. Supreme Court has never ruled on these issues in any top-two case, neither the Washington state one, nor any California case. The 9th circuit mistakenly said in the Washington top-two case that the U.S. Supreme Court had already settled this issue in March 2008, but footnote eleven of the U.S. Supreme Court decision of March 2008 said the Court was not considering that issue. And this month’s refusal by the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the Washington state case again cannot be taken to mean the U.S. Supreme Court expressed any opinion on the ballot access issues.
On October 10, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled that signatures on petitions are valid even if the signer forgot, or didn’t know, to include “2012” in the date column. This decision reverses the 2-1 decision of the Commonwealth Court.
This decision has no effect for the Libertarian Party statewide petition, which had already been shown to be valid. But it will be of help in future years. Furthermore, it is conceivable that if the Constitution Party had not withdrawn its statewide petition this year, given this decision, it might also have had enough valid signatures. Thanks to Larry Otter for this news. The Supreme Court decision mentions “common sense” in its decision. The petition forms all say “Revised 1/2012” at the bottom.
On October 11, the Sixth Circuit struck down an Ohio law that relates to provisional ballots. Ohio has many polling stations that include multiple precincts voting in the same building. Ohio law says that if a voter casts a provisional ballot in the right building but at the wrong table (each precinct has its own table) due to poll worker error, the vote is void. The decision says that restriction on counting that particular kind of vote is unconstitutional. The case is Service Employees International Union v Husted. This issue may seem obscure, but the principle is important, and represents another instance in which an important court has ruled that election officials must treat each voter equally. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the news.
On October 10, a lower state court in New Jersey enjoined restrictions on residency for circulators of local petitions. As a result, circulators are free to work on local recall petitions, and on petitions for independent candidates in partisan local elections, whether they live in the locality or not. Empower Our Neighborhood v Guadagno, Mercer County, L-3148-11. Thanks to Flavio Komuves for this news. Here is the decision.
