New York city councilmember Charles Barron is running for Governor of New York on the Freedom Party ticket.  Although he is a registered Democrat, he and the Freedom Party are unhappy that no statewide nominee of the Democratic Party this year is non-white.  Barron represents the 42nd district in Brooklyn, and when he was young, in 1969, he was an activist in the Black Panther Party.  Here is his official city web page.  He doesn’t seem to have a campaign web page.

On October 5, Lenora Fulani held a press conference to express her opinion about the New York gubernatorial race.  She said, “I welcome Charles Barron’s entry into independent politics and his bid to create the Freedom Party.  And I want to urge the Harlem community, together with independent-minded people across this state, to help the Freedom Party get the 50,000 votes needed for ballot status.”

The other nominees of the Freedom Party this year are Ramon Jimenez for Attorney General, and Eva Doyle for Lieutenant Governor.  Former New York city Mayor David Dinkins has said that Charles Barron should be allowed into this year’s gubernatorial debates.  Thanks to Nancy Hanks for this news.

Matthew Cardinale, a reporter for the Atlanta Progressive News, is authoring a series of articles about Georgia’s ballot access laws.  Here is the first article.  Very few people in Georgia understand that state’s ballot access laws, and even political reporters and bloggers frequently make factual errors when they describe those laws.  But Cardinale’s article is perfectly accurate.

On October 1, a Virginia state circuit court in Richmond granted a preliminary injunction, allowing the group called “The Know Campaign” to obtain the list of which voters voted in the last election.  “The Know Campaign” is a non-partisan group that wishes to increase voter turnout.  It believes that if ordinary voters know that whether or not they vote becomes a public record, they will be more likely to vote.

The list of which voters cast a ballot in the last election is not the same as the list of registered voters.  Some years ago a Virginia court had ruled that the list of who voted cannot be limited just to political parties and candidates, and ruled that Political Action Groups can see that list.  The legislature then expanded the list of groups that can see the list to include PAC’s.  Earlier this year the legislature considered expanding the list further.  The Senate passed the bill, but then the House completely altered the bill’s impact, and ruled that no one can see the list.  The Senate didn’t approve that version of the bill, so no legislative action was taken.

The lawsuit is The Know Campaign v Rodrigues, cl-09-005389-00.  UPDATE:  here is the court order.