On September 26, the U.S. Supreme Court docketed Ayyadurai v New Jersey Democratic Committee, 24-342. The issue is whether Shiva Ayyadurai, an independent presidential candidate who was born in India, should have been left on the New Jersey ballot. He had enough valid signatures but was removed because of Article Two qualifications. However, five times in the past, New Jersey has printed the names of presidential and vice-presidential candidates who were either under age 35 or who were not born in the United States.

Here is the filing.

Ayyadurai had filed the case with the U.S. Supreme Court on September 20. It is odd that the court took so long to put it on the docket.

On September 24, the Fifth Circuit heard Republican National Committee v Wetzel, 24-60395. The issue is the Mississippi law that says postal ballots are valid if they arrive within five days after election day. The law requires that the ballots must have been mailed no later than election day. The U.S. District Court had upheld the law.

The Republican National Committee argues that the U.S. Constitution’s reference to “election day” means that all ballots must be in the hands of the election administrators by the end of election day. The three judges are James Ho, Kyle Duncan, and Andrew Oldham, all Trump appointees.

Here is a news story about the oral argument. It lasted one hour and 35 minutes, which is very unusual for a Circuit oral argument. Each side had been allotted 25 minutes, but the judges kept the argument going longer than that.

Here is an Alaska ballot for November 2024, showing the eight presidential candidates and the ability of voters to rank all of them if they wish.