U.S. District Court in Virginia Explains Why It Upheld Residency Requirement for Circulators

Posted on by August 31, 2010
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On August 23, U.S. District Court Judge Henry E. Hudson, a Bush Jr. appointee, ruled from the bench in Lux v Rodrigues, upholding a Virginia law that says circulators for a U.S. House candidate may not work outside their home district.  On August 26, he issued this written opinion.

On August 27, the plaintiffs filed an appeal with the 4th circuit.

The U.S. District Court decision completely misses the point that the restriction violates the circulator’s free speech rights.  The decision does not talk about circulator’s rights.  It says the law is necessary to keep the ballot from being too crowded.  The decision ignores the evidence that no U.S. House race in Virginia history has ever had more than six candidates on a government-printed general election ballot.  Thanks to Gary Sinawski for the news.

Florida Legislator Who Lost Primary Files Lawsuit to Void Primary Results Because Opponent Didn’t Report Finances

Posted on by August 31, 2010
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On August 31, Florida Representative Kevin Ambler filed a lawsuit in state court to void the results of the August 24 primary in the State Senate race in the 12th district (Tampa area).  Ambler lost the Republican primary by a vote of 14,603 for himself, to 18,547 votes for Jim Norman.

The lawsuit charges that Norman didn’t report a very large business transaction on his campaign finance reports, and therefore the primary was tainted and should be reversed.  See this story.

No one filed to be on the ballot in any party in this race except these two Republicans.  There are two declared write-in candidates, however.

Florida Supreme Court Removes Three of the Legislature’s Ballot Measures

Posted on by August 31, 2010
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On August 31, the Florida Supreme Court removed three statewide ballot questions from the November ballot.  See this story.  The legislature had put all three on the ballot.  The Court said the legislature’s ballot descriptions of its measures are fundamentally misleading.  One of the measures would, if passed, cancel out two initiatives to provide for a non-partisan commission to draw boundaries for U.S. House districts and state legislative districts.  Thanks to Rick Hasen’s ElectionLawBlog for this news.

The Florida Supreme Court also rejected challenges to the two initiatives on redistricting.

The decision rejecting the legislature’s redistricting measures is Florida Department of State v Florida State Conference of NAACP Branches, SC10-1375.  The decision rejecting the legislature’s property tax measure is Roberts v Doyle, SC10-1508.  The decision rejecting the legislature’s ballot measure to attempt to cancel the new federal health insurance law is Florida Department of State v Mangat, SC10-1527.  And the decision upholding ballot placement for the two initiatives on redistricting is Roberts v Brown, SC10-1362.