On September 7, the Pennsylvania State Elections Office (the Department of State) revealed that it intends to file this amicus curiae brief with the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, in the Carl Stevenson ballot access case.  The brief is dated September 8 because that is the date it will be filed.  The Stevenson ballot access case concerns in-district residency for petition circulators.

The brief says the Department of State is neutral, but that it finds itself in an awkward position, because in 2002 a federal court permanently enjoined the state from enforcing the residency requirement yet a few weeks ago the Commonwealth Court removed a candidate from the ballot because of that same requirement.

On September 7, a Tennessee state court invalidated the petition to recall the Mayor of Chattanooga, Tennessee, because some of the signatures aren’t dated, and also because the judge said the number of signatures required should be controlled by state law, not by the City Charter.  See this story.  This is a re-write of an earlier blog post that had been written before the decision had come down.

The next Australian government will be led by the Labor Party, after the lone Green in the Australian lower house, and also several independents in the lower house, decided to vote with the Labor Party.  In the Australian Senate, the Green Party also used its balance-of-power status to keep Labor in charge.  See this story.  The Labor government will now support carbon legislation that it had not previously been willing to support.