Texas Supreme Court Denies Democratic Party Request to Make a Late Nomination in Judicial Race

Posted on by August 20, 2010
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On August 19, the Texas Supreme Court refused to permit the Texas Democratic Party to nominate someone by party meeting for a partisan judicial race in Fort Worth.  No one had filed appeared on the Texas primary ballot in March for that seat.  After the primary, the only candidate running, a Republican, died.  Texas law let the Republican Party replace him with a new nominee, but does not permit other parties to also make a late nomination.  See this story.  The case is In re Candace Taylor, 10-0635.  Thanks to David Prout for the link.

Ohio Democrats Denied Injunctive Relief in Case over Party Labels for Judges

Posted on by August 20, 2010
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On August 19, U.S. District Court Judge Susan Dlott declined to grant injunctive relief to the Ohio Democratic Party, in the lawsuit over whether Ohio is constitutionally required to print party labels on general election ballots for judicial candidates.  Ohio provides that candidates for Judge are selected in partisan primaries.  But Ohio law also says that these party nominees are placed on the November ballot with no party label.  The case is Ohio Council 8 American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees v Brunner (the Democratic Party is a co-plaintiff), 1:10-cv-504, southern district.  See this story.  Here is the 18-page order.  Thanks to ElectionLawBlog for the link.

One reason for the denial of injunctive relief was that the case had been filed too late.

Oregon Progressive Party Nominates 5 Congressional Candidates

Posted on by August 20, 2010
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The ballot-qualified Progressive Party of Oregon held a nominating convention on August 19, and nominated five congressional candidates, one nominee for state office, and two for partisan county office.  The nominee for State Office is Walt Brown, who is running for Treasurer.  Brown was also the Socialist Party’s presidential nominee in 2004.

The congressional candidates are:  for U.S. Senate, Rick Staggenborg; for U.S. House, 1st district, Chris Henry; 3rd district, Michael Meo; 4th district, Mike Beilstein; 5th district, Chris Lugo.  The party’s web page is www.progparty.org.

The party first got on the ballot in 2008, but at the time its name was the Peace Party.  In September 2009 it changed its name to the Progressive Party.  The only other ballot-qualified Progressive Party in the U.S. is in Vermont, but the two state parties are not associated with each other.  UPDATE:  see this news story about the party’s nominations.

Libertarian Polling 7% in U.S. Senate Race in Georgia

Posted on by August 19, 2010
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On August 19, an Insider/Advantage/WSB-TV poll was released for the U.S. Senate and gubernatorial races in Georgia.  For U.S. Senate, the poll shows:  Republican Johnny Isakson 47%; Democrat Michael Thurmond 35%; Libertarian Chuck Donovan 7%; undecided 11%.

For Governor, the same poll shows:  Republican Nathan Deal 45%; Democrat Roy Barnes 41%; Libertarian John Monds 5%; undecided 9%.

In the entire history of popular elections for U.S. Senate in Georgia, only one candidate for that office who was not the Republican nominee nor the Democratic nominee has ever received more than 5% of the vote.  That was in 1920.  An independent candidate that year, Harry Edwards, polled 5.10%.  Edwards was the only opponent of the Democratic nominee, Thomas Watson.

The best Libertarian Party showing for U.S. Senate in Georgia was in 1996, when Jack Cashin polled 3.60%.

Libertarian Gubernatorial Candidate, Others, Sue Maricopa County over Vote-Counting Machine Security

Posted on by August 19, 2010
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On August 16, Barry Hess and several other individuals sued Maricopa County, Arizona, over security issues involving vote-counting machines.  The other plaintiffs include for State Senator Karen Johnson.  See this story.  The story has a link to the complaint, but it doesn’t seem to work.  If any reader has more details about the name of the case, or anything else, please post a comment.