On September 13, U.S. District Court Judge Terry L. Wooten, a Bush, Jr. appointee, struck down a South Carolina campaign finance law that requires all groups that spend as much as $500 to “influence the outcome” of an election for state office to register as a Political Committee.  A Political Committee is required to file recurring certified campaign reports; maintain records of contributions, contributors, and expenditures; comply with various bank account requirements; reject anonymous and cash contributions; and disclose information about contributions and expenditures.  The decision is South Carolina Citizens for Life, Inc., v Krawcheck, 4:06-cv-2773.

Groups whose major purpose is to influence elections must still comply with the requirements.  The decision relates to organizations that were not created merely to influence the outcome of elections.

On September 14, the New York Conservative Party, and the New York Working Families Party, jointly filed a lawsuit in federal court over how votes are counted.  The problem, which is a new problem in New York state this year, is that some voters inevitably vote for the same candidate twice when that voter sees the name of a preferred candidate who is listed twice on the ballot, once under each party label.

This was not a problem (except for a tiny number of ballots cast on paper absentee votes) until this year.  Before this year, votes in New York were almost entirely cast on mechanical voting machines, and the machines physically prevented voters from making that error.  Under the new system, the Board credits the vote to the party that is listed first on the ballot.  The Democratic and Republican Parties have the first and second lines on the ballot, so they get credit for the vote, not the minor party.  The case is Conservative Party of New York et al v New York State Board of Elections, 10cv-6923, southern district.  It was assigned to U.S. District Court Judge Jed Rakoff, a Clinton appointee.  Thanks to Joseph Lorenzo Hall for the news.  The lawsuit is being handled by the Brennan Center.

Columnist Darrell Delamaide’s September 15 column says that the results of recent Republican primaries for important office is creating a political vacuum for centrist voters, and again brings up the idea that Mayor Michael Bloomberg could find success in 2012 as an independent presidential candidate.