On December 22, a Marion County Circuit Court ruled that Charlie White, who was elected Indiana’s Secretary of State with a 57.1% share of the vote in November 2010, was not a validly registered voter when he filed for office. The 8-page decision is here. Therefore, because he was registered at an address which was not his actual residence, the court concluded that White should be removed from office. Under Indiana law, assuming the decision is not reversed on appeal, Vop Osili, the Democratic Party nominee for that office in 2010, who only polled 37.0% of the vote, becomes the new Secretary of State. Osili was elected to the Indianapolis city council last month and is Nigerian-American. His first name is an acronym for “Voice of the People.”

White and the state have asked the Circuit Court to stay its ruling, while the case is appealed.

It seems fundamentally undemocratic that the decision of the voters should be set aside, just because the winning candidate filled out an incorrect declaration of candidacy. At the least, one would wish that the office would now be declared vacant, and perhaps a special election to fill it could be held in November 2012. The term of office is four years. White is facing separate criminal charges in another state court; he is charged with the crime of putting an incorrect address on his voter registration form and his declaration of candidacy. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.

On December 22, U.S. District Court Judge John D. Bates upheld section five of the federal Voting Rights Act, in a 96-page opinion. The case is LaRoque v Holder, 10-0561. The case started after the voters of Kinston, North Carolina, voted to switch the city’s elections from partisan to non-partisan elections, and then the Voting Rights Section of the U.S. Justice Department refused to allow that change. The Justice Department felt the change would injure black voters. The city council of Kinston refused to challenge the Justice Department’s decision.

Proponents of non-partisan elections then sued to overturn Section Five of the Voting Rights Act. Originally Judge Bates said they lacked standing, but the U.S. Court of Appeals, D.C. Circuit, had reversed that, so the case returned to Judge Bates, who has now upheld the act. Even though the decision is very long, it doesn’t actually discuss the merits of the particular controversy in Kinston over non-partisan elections versus partisan elections, and whether the proposed change affects blacks. Instead, the decision is all about the big issue of whether Congress had the authority to extend the Act in 2006. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.

In 2010, an anonymous blog came into existence in Maine, in connection with the gubernatorial general election. The web site, called “The Cutler Files”, posted derogatory information about Eliot Cutler, an independent candidate for Governor who was almost elected. Later, the Maine Commission on Governmental Ethics fined the blogger, Dennis Bailey, $200 for failing to disclose that he was the author of the blog. Bailey then sued the Commission, arguing that the U.S. Constitution protects anonymous speech about political campaigns. He filed his lawsuit in state court, but it was quickly removed to federal court. In federal court, the case is Bailey v State of Maine Commission on Government Ethics, 1:11-cv-00179-JAW.

The case is far from being resolved. However, on December 19, the federal magistrate hearing the case ruled that certain confidential documents and e-mails involved in the case may be made public. These include evidence that the blogger was working with one of the Democratic candidates for Governor, Rosa Scarcelli, when he set up the blog. See this story.