On Friday, October 29, the state chair of the North Carolina Republican Party filed a lawsuit against the North Carolina State Board of Elections, complaining about the accuracy of the iVotronic vote-counting machines that are used in 35 counties.  The lawsuit is Fetzer v Bartlett, U.S. District Court, eastern district, 4:10cv-158-H.

On Saturday, October 30, a hearing was held, and the parties settled.  The State Board of Elections promises to instruct all polling place officials to orally tell each voter to read a sign, titled “Voter Alert.”  The sign says, “Touchscreen voting machines are sensitive.  A summary page will appear at the end of your ballot so you can review the choices selected.  CAREFULLY (underlined and in bold print) review your ballot to make sure your vote is accurately cast.”

Also, the Board has instructed all local election officials to preserve all programming materials, records and audit logs from the iVotronic machines.

The Democratic Party has the top line on all North Carolina ballots.  This is because of a state law that says parties with at least 5% of the voter registration are put on the ballot in alphabetical order.  Because only the Democratic and Republican Parties have 5% of the voter registration, and because “D” comes before “R” in the alphabet, this means that all North Carolina ballots always have the Democrats at the top, and Republicans are on the second line.  If a voter intends to vote for Republicans, and touches the touch-screen in the area between the Democratic and Republican lines, the machine interprets that as a vote for the party on the top line, even though that voter intended the party on the second line.

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.

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%.