On October 29, Pennsylvanians who want ballot access reform held a rally at the State Capitol. State Senator Mike Folmer, sponsor of one of this session’s ballot access reform bills, addressed the group. See this story. Thanks to Bill Van Allen for the link.
On October 29, Tim Fite, Republican nominee for Arkansas State House, 83rd district, asked the State Supreme Court to rule that he is entitled to be a candidate in next week’s election. On October 27 a Pulaski County Circuit Court had ruled that he is ineligible to run, because of a misdemeanor conviction in 1984. Because ballots have already been printed, if the State Supreme Court does not intervene, voters will see a notice at the polls that votes for Hite will not be counted. See this story.
The incumbent, a Republican, is not running for re-election. If Hite cannot run, the Democratic nominee, Leslee Post, will be unopposed.
Late on October 29, a lower state court in Alabama dismissed a lawsuit that had been filed by a voter, for the purpose of removing Robert Bentley from the November 2 ballot. Bentley is the Republican gubernatorial nominee. The voter had charged that Bentley had broken campaign finance laws. See this story.
On October 29, the Alaska Supreme Court issued a revised order in State of Alaska v Alaska Democratic Party and Alaska Republican Party, S-14054. This is the case over whether elections officials are permitted to show the list of declared write-in candidates to voters at the polls. The new 7-page order says that the regulation against showing that list to voters is unlawful, because state election law 15.15.240 says that voters who ask for assistance may receive it. Laws, of course, trump regulations.
The October 29 order also alters the earlier (October 27) order, by canceling the earlier directive to segregate the ballots of voters who had asked to see the list of write-in candidates. Thanks to ElectionLawBlog for the link.
A Dittman Research and Communications Poll released October 29 shows: Lisa Murkowski (write-in) 37%; Joe Miller (Republican) 27%; Scott McAdams (Democrat) 23%; other and undecided 13%.
On October 29, Richard Whitney, Green Party nominee for Illinois Governor, filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Chicago against WTTW, one of Chicago’s Public TV Stations, for sponsoring a debate and inviting only the Democratic and Republican nominees for Governor. The case is Whitney v Window to the World Communications, 2010-cv-7003.
In 1998, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Arkansas Educational TV Commission v Forbes that public television stations may not host debates and then exclude candidates who have a real campaign. The Court said candidates whose campaigns have generated appreciable public interest cannot be excluded. In the Forbes case, the Court ruled against the plaintiff-candidate, an independent congressional candidate in Arkansas, because he had raised almost no money, had no campaign headquarters outside his home, and few voters appeared interested in him. None of those things are true for Whitney’s campaign.
