Candidate filing for Louisiana’s statewide election has closed. Ten candidates are running for Governor: one Republican, four Democrats, one Libertarian, and four independents.
For Lieutenant Governor, Secretary of State, Attorney General, and Treasurer, only Republicans filed. For Agriculture & Forestry Commissioner, there is one Republican, one Democrat, and one Reform Party member running. For Insurance Commissioner there is one Republican and one Democrat.
Several Republican Party officials in Kentucky have filed a lawsuit in state court to remove the Libertarian Party nominee for State Treasurer from the ballot. See this story. They charge that he does not have 5,000 valid signatures. The state has already certified him for the ballot.
Bill Clutter, a private investigator in Springfield, Illinois, is launching an initiative to change the Illinois open primary, from one in which primary voters must ask for one particular party’s primary ballot, to one in which primary voters in the secrecy of the voting booth choose one party’s primary ballot. States with secret open primaries include Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota. Here is the initiative petition. In states with secret open primaries, the voter is limited to voting in only one party’s primary. Thanks to Nancy Hanks for the link.
This blog post is being written at 12:30 p.m., Thursday, September 8. It has been more than 24 hours since U.S. District Court Judge Algenon Marbley enjoined the Ohio ballot access law for newly-qualifying parties, and no mainstream news media in Ohio (or anywhere else) has yet mentioned the decision.
On September 7, Carl Lewis, the Democratic nominee for New Jersey State Senate who is being kept off the November 7, 2011 ballot, asked the 3rd circuit to put him on the ballot. The case is Lewis v Guadagno, 11-3401.
