See this story in the Reno Gazette-Journal, about the pending lawsuit to remove Nevada’s “None of the above” from the ballot for statewide office. The case has a hearing in U.S. District Court in Reno on August 22.
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Ross Miller, Nevada’s elected Secretary of State and a Democrat, participated in a mixed martial arts fight on Saturday, August 18. See this story. He says he had always wanted to do that, and that he is “retiring” from the sport. Thanks to PoliticalWire for the link.
Thirty-five states, including North Carolina, provide that a presidential candidate who is not on the ballot may file to have his or her write-ins counted. The vast majority of the deadlines for doing that are in October. North Carolina, somewhat irrationally, says the declaration is due in early August. North Carolina also requires 500 valid signatures to file for declared write-in status. The Green Party is somewhat likely to sue to get more time to file for write-in presidential status. North Carolina is in the 4th circuit, and the 4th circuit is protective of write-in candidates. In 1989 it struck down Maryland’s law that required declared write-in candidates to pay a filing fee of $290. That case is Dixon v Maryland State Administrative Board of Election Laws, 878 F.2d 776. Also in 2000, a U.S. District Court in West Virginia followed the Dixon precedent and struck down the West Virginia law that required write-in candidates to pay filing fees.
The Vermont Supreme Court will hear Trudell v Markowitz, 2011-311, on Wednesday, September 12. This is the case that challenges the independent candidate petition deadline established by the legislature in 2009. The 2009 change moved the deadline from September to June, a drastic change that change has created many problems in the presidential election of 2012. Only one petitioning candidate for President, Peta Lindsay, met that deadline this year. Vermont is tied for having the nation’s earliest independent presidential deadline.
On a related matter, on August 20, Rocky Anderson submitted his presidential petition to the Vermont Secretary of State. The towns have certified more than 1,000 valid signatures, so he will be on the ballot unless the State Supreme Court issues a stay of the opinion in Anderson v State of Vermont. On August 6, the lower state court in that case had given Anderson and the Justice Party two more weeks to complete the petition.
On February 7, the Arizona Supreme Court had issued a two-page order in Escamilla v Cuello, cv-12-39, agreeing with the lower court that Alejandrina Cabrera should be kept off the ballot for City Council of San Luis, Arizona. On August 20, the Supreme Court finally explained its reasoning. Here is the 15-page opinion. The Court agreed with the lower court that the candidate, whose primary language is Spanish, does not have enough skill with English to serve in office. Thanks to Mark Brown for this news.
San Luis is on the Mexican border.