On November 29, a lower Alaska state court in Fairbanks held a hearing in Joe Miller’s lawsuit against the state of Alaska.  Miller, the Republican Party nominee for U.S. Senate,  had filed the lawsuit to stop the state from certifying Lisa Murkowski as the winner in the U.S. Senate race.  The judge in Fairbanks ruled that the case should have been filed in state court in Juneau.  See this story.  The next step will be for the new judge to decide whether Murkowski should be allowed to intervene in the case.  Only then can the case get to the merits.  A hearing will be held on Wednesday, December 1.

The Massachusetts Libertarian Party will ask for a rehearing before all the judges of the First Circuit, in Barr v Galvin.  This is the case over whether Bob Barr should have been on the ballot in Massachusetts in November 2008 as the Libertarian Party presidential nominee.  The only way that unqualified parties ever place nominees on the ballot in Massachusetts is with petitions that name the party’s candidates.  In 2008 the Massachusetts Libertarian Party wanted to complete its petition early, so it listed George Phillies on the ballot as its presidential candidate.  In 2007 the Secretary of State had told the party that it could list a stand-in, and replace him with the actual presidential nominee after the party’s national convention was over.  When the party followed this advice, it was shocked to be told in 2008 that it could not replace Phillies with Barr.

The party had then sued, and the U.S. District Court had ruled that Massachusetts’ behavior violated the Equal Protection part of the 14th amendment, because Massachusetts and all states let qualified parties revise their national tickets.  The U.S. District Court ordered Massachusetts to list Barr on the ballot instead of Phillies.  But on November 16, 2010, the First Circuit had reversed the U.S. District Court decision.  Obviously the First Circuit’s decision doesn’t impact what has already happened, but it makes a bad situation for future presidential campaigns.  The decision also impacts Maine and New Hampshire, two other states in the First Circuit that don’t permit presidential stand-ins.

The Libertarian Party request for a rehearing is due December 14.

The Billings Gazette has this comprehensive article about the surprising strength of Wyoming candidates who ran in 2010 outside the two major parties.  The “other” vote for Wyoming Governor this year was 10.3%, the highest such percentage for that office, for candidates running outside the two major parties, since 1894.  In 1894 the Peoples Party candidate for Governor had received 11.3%.

The article notes that the new Wyoming Senate consists of 26 Republicans and 4 Democrats.