On August 24, the California State Court of Appeals issued a ruling in Arntz v Superior Court.  The decision is here. The issue was whether San Francisco Supervisor Michela Alioto-Pier may be on the November 2010 ballot for County Supervisor.  San Francisco has term limits for Supervisors.  They may run for two four-year terms.  The Court ruled that she may not run in 2010.

Alioto-Pier was appointed in January 2004, and then elected to a 2-year short term in November 2004, and to her only 4-year term in November 2006.  She will appeal to the State Supreme Court.

On August 24, the Connecticut Secretary of State said that the Socialist Action Party’s candidate for U.S. House, 1st district, has enough valid signatures.  The candidate is Chris Hutchinson.  This will be the first time any party with “Socialist” in its name will have been on the ballot for a U.S. House race in Connecticut since 1960, the last year Jasper McLevy ran for Congress.  McLevy was well-known for being elected Mayor of Bridgeport on the Socialist Party ticket.

Socialist Action has run candidates for non-partisan office before, but this is its first time on the ballot in a partisan election.  The group is several decades old.  It originally began when the Socialist Workers Party expelled some members, who then organized the new group.

Connecticut’s First U.S. House district is centered on Hartford.  There will also be Democratic, Republican, and Green Party nominees in the race.

On August 24, U.S. District Court Judge Graham C. Mullen, a Bush Sr. appointee, upheld North Carolina’s petition requirement for independent candidates for U.S. House.  The law required a petition signed by 4% of the registered voters of the district.  No independent candidate for U.S. House has ever appeared on a government-printed ballot in North Carolina, and such ballots have been in existence since 1901.  The case is Greene v Bartlett, 5:08-cv-088.  Here is the decision.

The judge noted that this year, the Service Employees International Union did succeed in qualifying an independent candidate for U.S. House in North Carolina.  However, that candidate, Wendall Fant, will not appear on the ballot, even though enough valid signatures were obtained, because he didn’t want to be a candidate, and he withdrew.

The decision does say, “It is clear that North Carolina’s election laws place severe restrictions upon unaffiliated candidates.  It is undisputed under the Storer test that unaffiliated candidates do not regularly qualify for the general election ballot in North Carolina.”   But it says that because the U.S. Supreme Court upheld Georgia’s 5% petition requirement in 1971 in Jenness v Fortson, and because the U.S. Supreme Court has continued to mention Jenness in some recent election law decisions, the U.S. Supreme Court must still believe in Jenness.

The plaintiff has not yet decided whether to appeal to the 4th circuit.