On July 21, a Circuit Court in Will County, Illinois, put Cedra Crenshaw on the November ballot as the Republican nominee for State Senate, 43rd district.  Like Illinois Green Party nominee Kenneth Williams, who won a somewhat similar ballot access lawsuit on the same day, Crenshaw had been chosen by party meeting after the primary was over.  No one had run in the Republican primary for State Senate in the 43rd district.  Illinois law lets qualified parties choose nominees after the primary by party meeting, if no one was nominated for that office in the primary.

A new Illinois law forced such party meeting nominees to submit a petition.  Crenshaw had used a petition form that is not meant for this type of situation.  The two types of petition (some to be used before a primary, others to be used after a primary) have a miniscule difference in their wording.  One form says all the signatures have been collected in a 90 day period; the other says they have all been collected in a 75 day period.  The judge ruled that the difference is immaterial and put Crenshaw on the ballot.  Press reaction to this decision has been overwhelmingly positive.  Thanks to Eric Dondero for the news.

On July 20, a study of voting in Port Chester, New York’s recent local election was released.  Port Chester used cumulative voting for Village Trustee.  Voters were each given six votes, and they were free to distribute their votes as they wished.  A voter could give one vote to each of six candidates, or all six votes to one candidate, or any variant in-between.  The study shows that 34% of the voters gave all six votes to one candidate.  See this story.

Port Chester used cumulative voting for its Village Trustee election because it had been sued under the Voting Rights Act to stop using ordinary at-large elections.  Even though Port Chester had a large Hispanic population, no Hispanic had ever before been elected to a Village Trustee slot.  One was elected in the recent election, however.  The election was also helpful to minor party and independent candidates.  One independent candidate was elected, placing first; and one Conservative Party nominee (who was not the nominee of any other party) was also elected.  Thanks to Gene Berkman for the link.

On July 21, the Wisconsin Elections Division voted not to permit Ieshuh Griffin, an independent candidate for lower house of the Wisconsin legislature, 10th district, to have her choice of ballot label on the November ballot.  She chose “Not the ‘whiteman’s bitch’.”  State law says an independent candidate may choose any label that is five words or less.

Here is a web page, the Milwaukee Drum, with information about Griffin.  The 10th Assembly district is in Milwaukee.  The Chicago Tribune has this story about the controversy.  The article says Griffin plans to bring a lawsuit to restore her ballot label.  This potential lawsuit could have important ramifications.