On February 29, the West Virginia Supreme Court upheld a state constitutional requirement that in State Senate districts covering several counties, only one person from each county can ever be elected in any given election year. See this story. In multi-member State Senate districts, some seats are up in presidential years, and others are up in midterm years. The opinion is not yet posted on the State Supreme Court’s web page.
On March 1, the Oklahoma petition deadline for newly-qualifying parties, the Libertarian Party submitted 56,530 signatures. The requirement is 51,739 valid signatures. Although it seems obvious that the party didn’t submit enough signatures to meet the requirement (after checking for validity), the party is in court, asking for injunctive relief, either for more time, or for a lower number of signatures. The judge has urged the state to settle the case. The state has not yet responded to the party’s settlement offer. UPDATE: the actual number of signatures was somewhat more than 57,000.
On February 29, the New York major parties, and all the groups who sued New York over U.S. House redistricting, submitted proposed maps to the special master appointed by the U.S. District Court in Favors v Cuomo. See this story. Everyone involved in the case seems to agree that the new districts should protect all the incumbent members of the U.S. House who are running for re-election.
On March 1, the California State Court of Appeal issued a ruling in Fuller v Bowen, C065237. The decision refuses to decide if the California Constitutional provision, requiring candidates for the legislature to have lived in their district for at least one year before running, violates the U.S. Constitution.
The decision says the court will not reach that issue, because courts don’t have jurisdiction to determine if legislative candidates meet the constitutional requirements. Only the legislature can do that. The decision does not mention the recent decision of the New Jersey Supreme Court that held courts do have jurisdiction in such cases. See this news story about the decision.
North Carolina election law says candidates who are discussed in the news media should be listed automatically on presidential primary ballots. However, the State Board of Elections refuses to list Fred Karger on the Republican ballot unless the state chair of the Republican Party wants him listed. See this story about the controversy, at Firedoglake.
