On March 31, the New York Public Financing Campaign Board disqualified Bruce Blakeman’s application for public funding. He is the likely Republican nominee for Governor. Blakeman’s application didn’t list his Lieutenant Governor running mate. See this story.
On April 1, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court will hear In the Matter of Request for Opinion of the Justices, OJ-26-1. This is a lawsuit over whether it is possible for the legislature to pass a law that makes ranked choice voting conform to the state Constitution, for general elections for state office. Currently Maine uses ranked choice voting for primaries, and for general elections for federal office. But a 2017 opinion of the Supreme Judicial Court makes it impossible to use ranked choice voting for general elections for state office. The leaders of the legislature filed this lawsuit, hoping to reverse the 2017 opinion. Here is the brief of the legislature leaders.
The SF Bay View, a newspaper in San Francisco that has existed since 1976, has endorsed Butch Ware for California Governor, even though he is not on the ballot. He will be a declared write-in candidate, so write-ins for him will be tallied. See the endorsement here.
On March 31, the Eighth Circuit agreed with the U.S. District Court that Arkansas can’t stop recognizing electronic signatures on voter registration forms. Get Loud Arkansas v Jester, 24-2810. The basis is the 1964 federal Civil Rights Law, which said that voting and registration can’t be invalidated if the reason for invalidation is not “material” to an accurate and fair voting system.
The vote was 2-1. The decision was written by Judge Steven M. Colloton (a Bush Jr. appointee) and also signed by Judge Ralph R. Erickson (a Trump appointee). Judge David Stras (a Trump appointee) dissented.
See this story about three minor party candidates for South Carolina Governor.
