U.S. Supreme Court Asks Illinois to Respond in Senator Burris’ Lawsuit Over How Candidates Get on Ballot in Special Election

Posted on by November 26, 2010
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On November 3, the U.S. Supreme Court asked the state of Illinois to respond to the lawsuit filed by U.S. Senator Roland Burris.  The case is Judge v Quinn, 10-367.  The issue was how candidates could qualify to get on the ballot in the special election for U.S. Senate, two-month term, that was held on November 2, 2010.

The lower courts had ordered that Illinois simply print on the ballot the names of people who had qualified in the U.S. Senate race for the full term, on the ballot as the candidates for the short term.  U.S. Senator Roland Burris was not running for the full term, but he wanted to run for the short term.  But the lower courts left him no possibility of qualifying to run for the short term.

Illinois’ response is due December 3, 2010.  If the U.S. Supreme Court does hear this case, it would have no effect on this particular Illinois Senate election, but it would set rules for future special elections.

Final Vote Tally Shows Republicans Did Poll the Legally Required Number of Votes in District of Columbia

Posted on by November 25, 2010
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As of November 6, when most of the votes had been counted in the November 2 election, the District of Columbia returns showed that the Republican nominee for Delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives had only polled 7,401 votes.  The D.C. election law requires parties to poll at least 7,500 votes in order to remain on the ballot, and the “shadow U.S. Senate” and “shadow U.S. Representative” elections don’t count.  Because the Republicans had not run for any other partisan race in D.C. in 2010, it appeared that the party had gone off the ballot.

But then, on November 6, the D.C. Board of Elections had re-interpreted the election law to say that a party only needs to meet the vote test every four years.  This saved the Republican Party’s ballot status, because it had met the vote test for President in 2008.

Now, it turns out that the Republican Party in 2010 did meet the vote test for its nominee for Delegate to the U.S. House.  That nominee, Missy Reilly Smith, polled 8,109 votes, when all the absentee and provisional votes were counted.

First Circuit Rules 2-1 that U.S. Constitution Does Not Permit Voting Members for Puerto Rico in U.S. House of Representatives

Posted on by November 25, 2010
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On November 24, the First Circuit ruled 2-1 that the U.S. Constitution does not permit any voting representatives for Puerto Rico in the U.S. House of Representatives, notwithstanding treaties that the U.S. has signed to protect voting rights for all adult U.S. citizens.  The case is Igartua v United States of America, 09-2186.  The government of Puerto Rico had joined the voter-plaintiff in support of the lawsuit, and an attorney for the government of Puerto Rico had been permitted to participate in oral argument.  Here is the decision.

Each of the three judges on the panel wrote separately.  Judge Sandra Lynch wrote 31 pages for the Court.  Judge Kermit Lipez wrote 14 pages to say that although he agrees that plaintiffs should not prevail, he feels the case is important enough that all the judges of the First Circuit should have participated in an en banc hearing.  Judge Juan Torruella wrote a passionate dissent of 63 pages.  Judge Turruella notes in a footnote that in 1898, while Spain still owned Puerto Rico, Puerto Rican voters chose 6 Senators and 12 Delegates to the Spanish Parliament, the Cortes, in Madrid.  Thanks to Rick Hasen’s ElectionLawBlog for the link.

First Circuit Rejects Appeal of the Lower Court Ruling that Struck Down Ban on Voter Signing Petitions for Two Candidates for Same Office

Posted on by November 24, 2010
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On October 8, 2009, a U.S. District Court in Rhode Island had struck down a Central Falls city ordinance that made it illegal for a voter to sign petitions for two candidates running against each other for the same office.  The city had appealed to the First Circuit.  But on November 3, 2010, the First Circuit said the city’s appeal is moot.  This is partly because the Rhode Island legislature passed a law in 2010 that requires all towns to let voters sign as many petitions as they wish.  Fontes v City of Central Falls, 09-2516.

Even before the case started, it had already been the law in Rhode Island that voters could sign as many petitions (for the same office) for federal and state office as they wished.  The case only arose because some towns in Rhode Island had a more restrictive policy.