On September 29, the Rhode Island Supreme Court said it won’t hear Russo v Mollis, su-10-339.  This is the case filed by the Republican candidate who placed second in this year’s primary for Lieutenant Governor.  The winning Republican withdrew from the general election race after the primary was over, and endorsed independent candidate Robert Healey.  The second-place finisher in that Republican primary, Kara Russo, then filed her lawsuit directly with the State Supreme Court, alleging that even though the Republican Party doesn’t want to have a nominee for Lieutenant Governor, it must have one.

The 9th circuit will hear oral arguments in Kelly v McCulloch, 10-35174, on November 5, 2010, in Portland, Oregon.  This is the case filed in 2008 against the March petition deadline for non-presidential independent candidates.  The non-presidential independent candidate petition deadline in Montana had been in June (simultaneous with the primary) until 2007, when the legislature moved it to March.  The U.S. District Court had ruled that the plaintiffs lack standing, so this case hasn’t had a ruling on the merits yet.  This is an ACLU case.

Montana is one of only two states in which no ballot access law that affects minor parties or independent candidates has every been held unconstitutional, or unlawful.  The other such state is New Hampshire.

New Mexico, like three-fourths of the states, requires write-in candidates who want their write-ins tallied to file a declaration of write-in candidacy.  The New Mexico Secretary of State has accepted a write-in declaration of candidacy filing from a write-in candidate for Governor, even though he has no Lieutenant Governor running mate.  See this story.  New Mexico is one of the states in which candidates for Governor and Lieutenant Governor run in November as a team.

The story quotes Denise Lamb, a county election official, condemning the decision.  Denise Lamb once worked in the New Mexico Secretary of State’s office as head of the elections bureau.  While she was there, she tried to persuade the legislature to ban write-ins.  She almost succeeded in 1997.  The Secretary of State’s omnibus election law bill, HB 865, included a ban on write-ins, but Governor Gary Johnson vetoed it, to Lamb’s great displeasure.

Some states that elect Governors and Lieutenant Governors as a team in November have permitted candidates on the ballot, even if they don’t have a running mate.  Others have refused.  States that permit a candidate without a running mate include Alaska, Illinois and Wisconsin.

If a candidate without a running mate were to be elected, the vacant office could be filled by special procedures that each state has for filling vacancies.  Obviously each state has such procedures, because, as everyone knows, any person can theoretically die at any time.

This year, New Mexico is the only state with no minor party or independent candidates on the November ballot for any statewide office or for any U.S. House race.  Even Washington state has an independent candidate on the ballot for U.S. House in the 7th district, where this year no Republican ran in the “top-two” primary in that race, so that the independent was able to place second.