This New York Times story explains that the Conservative Party nominee for State Senate, 31st district, in 2010, was deceased before the party nominated him. Dr. Raphael M. Klapper, of the Bronx, died in May 2010. But during June and July, a petition was circulated to qualify him for the Conservative Party primary. He was dutifully nominated without opposition, and his name appeared on the November 2010 ballot. An investigation is underway to determine how this happened. Most of the district is in Manhattan.

The Conservative Party nominated 55 candidates for the 62 New York State Senate seats last year. They included 47 candidates who were also Republican nominees, one candidate who was also the Democratic nominee, and 7 candidates who weren’t the nominee of any other party. Dr. Klapper was one of the party’s nominees who wasn’t also a major party nominee. In the general election he received 1.62% of the vote. By contrast, in 2008, when the Conservative Party also ran someone in this district who wasn’t a major party nominee, the Conservative nominee only received .74%. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.

The new Georgia Elections Advisory Council has just put up a web page, which asks Georgians to comment on Georgia election laws. Here is the web page. Thanks to David Shock for this news.

Medill Reports is an on-line publication, prepared by graduate journalism students at Northwestern University. This article in Medill Reports describes the habit of WTTW-TV to host debates, but to exclude some ballot-listed candidates. On January 17, the TV station, which receives substantial funding from the government, hosted a TV debate for four of the candidates for Mayor of Chicago, although six candidates are on the ballot. The article also mentions that WTTW is being sued for a similar discriminatory policy last year, when it hosted a general election gubernatorial debate and invited only the two major party nominees. Thanks to Christina Tobin for the link.