On October 25, and again on October 26, lower state Kentucky courts ruled that two candidates for the legislature are not qualified because they did not have enough valid signatures.  See this story.  One candidate is an independent, who needed 100 signatures.  The other is the Democratic nominee in his district.  He needed two signatures to get on the primary ballot but only had one valid.

Because the ballots are already printed, notices will be posted in polling places that votes for these two candidates will not be counted.

On October 27, the California Secretary of State released the results of mock elections for Governor, U.S. Senator, and some state ballot propositions.  These elections are held in many California schools.  The results are from 389 schools, and involve the votes of 105,000 students.  A few schools have yet to report.

For Governor, the student vote is:  Jerry Brown, Democrat, 48.8%; Meg Whitman, Republican, 22.5%; Carlos Alvarez, Peace & Freedom, 15.0%; Laura Wells, Green, 5.8%; Chelene Nightingale, American Independent, 4.9%; Dale Ogden, Libertarian, 2.9%.

U.S. Senate:  Barbara Boxer, Democrat, 48.5%; Carly Fiorina, Republican, 22.4%; Marsha Feinland, Peace & Freedom, 11.5%; Duane Roberts, Green, 7.3%; Edward Noonan, American Independent, 6.1%; Gail Lightfoot, Libertarian, 4.4%.

Student “mock elections” in California traditionally show more support for minor parties than is present in the electorate.  In 2008, the California “mock election” for President had been:  Obama, 73.8%; McCain, 20.7%; Nader, 2.4%; McKinney, 1.5%; Barr, 1.0%; Keyes, .7%.

On October 27, the Florida State Appeals Court reversed the lower court decision in Norman v Ambler.  See this story.  The issue was whether the winner of the Republican primary, for State Senate in the 12th district, should remain as the Republican nominee.  The lower court had disqualified Jim Norman because it found that he had violated campaign finance laws.  The State Court of Appeals said that is no basis to overturn a primary election result.

The Republican Party had chosen a new nominee a few days ago, but that new nomination is now meaningless.  It is conceivable, but unlikely, that the case will be appealed to the Florida Supreme Court.  UPDATE:  no appeal to the State Supreme Court will occur.  See this story.