The Virginia State Board of Elections believes it has found one petitioner from northern Virginia who submitted 146 petition sheets that were forged. This petitioner was circulating the petition to place Constitution Party nominee Virgil Goode on the ballot for President. On August 6 the State Board of Elections asked the Virginia Attorney General to investigate.

The Washington Post, in this article, gives the impression that the problem is bigger than it actually is. Goode has submitted 19,000 signatures already, to meet a goal of 10,000 signatures. Already, last month, the Board had verified 8,000 valid signatures, even before checking the signatures submitted since then. The sheets submitted by the petitioner who allegedly forged names were not part of the 8,000 signatures that had already been verified.

Goode has collected many of his signatures personally this year, something he has done in his past congressional campaigns.

On August 6, the Eighth Circuit struck down a St. Louis city ordinance that outlaws conduct, including speech, that has the consequence of impeding vehicular traffic. Stahl v City of St. Louis, 10-3761. The decision is seven pages.

A group put up a sign on an overpass over a freeway. The sign said “911 was an inside job.” The police were called and arrested the sign-holders. The city argued a sign like that would distract drivers and make a traffic accident, or a traffic stall, more likely. The Court said the law is too vague and speech cannot be criminalized when it is impossible for the speakers to know in advance whether their actions are illegal. The decision also notes the original call-in to the police complained about an “offensive” sign, which suggests that if the sign had had a blander message, no enforcement officers would have been called into action. Thanks to HowAppealing for the link.

August 6 is the Maryland petition deadline for newly-qualifying parties and independent candidates. The Libertarian Party just submitted 5,636 signatures, hoping that at least 2,766 are valid. The Green Party had turned in its first supplemental petition on July 19, containing 3,921 more signatures, but then those had been checked and they were still 138 short. But on August 6, the Greens submitted a third petition, this one with 1,652 more signatures.

The state requires 10,000. The reason supplemental petitions are needed is that even though the parties had already submitted petitions last year, and even though a lower state court had said those petitions were sufficient, earlier this year the highest state court, the Court of Appeals, ruled that signatures are not valid if a voter’s middle initial is listed in the voter registration records and yet the signature on the petition doesn’t include the middle initial on the petition. Also that Court invalidated signatures when a voter signed once without the middle initial, and then signed again, this time with the middle initial (so that both signatures are invalid). Thanks to Bob Johnston and Brian Bittner for this news.