On September 28, the West Virginia Republican Party said it won’t appeal its loss in lower state court, in the case over whether the special election for U.S. Senate should be on the same ballot as the other offices. See this story.
States in which lawsuits are still undecided, and which must be decided before ballots can be printed, are Florida, Illinois, Maine, Nevada, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Virginia. See this story about an unresolved Florida lawsuit.
On the evening of September 27, the Virginia State Board of Elections filed a response with the U.S. Supreme Court in Lux v Rodrigues, 10A-298. This is the case that challenges a law that no one may circulate a petition for a candidate for U.S. House, if the circulator doesn’t live in that district. UPDATE: on the afternoon of September 28, Lux filed his 10-page response.
The state’s response says that the two U.S. Supreme Court decisions that have struck down restrictions on who can circulate a petition do not apply in this case, because both those two decisions involved initiatives, not candidates. Also the state says that even if the U.S. Supreme Court tells the state to check the Lux petition, he probably wouldn’t have enough valid signatures anyway. The state bases this idea on the fact that elections officials did check the petition validity of the Lux petitions that were circulated by residents, and if one extrapolates, Lux doesn’t have enough valid signatures. However, only 161 of the Lux signatures were circulated to residents of the district, whereas 1,062 of the Lux signatures were gathered by the candidate himself. It is quite possible that the candidate himself, Herb Lux, did a better job of petitioning than other people who circulated his petition. The state has never checked the validity of the signatures gathered by the candidate himself.
The Rhode Island Supreme Court has agreed to hear Russo v Mollis, su-10-0339. See this story. The issue is whether the candidate who won the Republican primary for Lieutenant Governor should be barred from withdrawing. After the primary was over, she withdrew and endorsed an independent candidate for Lieutenant Governor. The case was filed by the person who placed second in the Republican primary, Kara Russo. She either wants the winner of the primary to remain on the November ballot, or she wants to replace that person.
A Vermont Superior Court will hear arguments in Trudell v Markowitz on October 1, at 3 p.m. This is the case that challenges Vermont’s new June petition deadline for independent candidates. The plaintiff, Jerry Trudell, is running for U.S. House. He submitted his petition before the August primary, but later than the deadline. He challenges the constitutionality of the new deadline.
The September 27 issue of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer has endorsed write-in candidate Raymond Bunk for Washington State Senate, 31st district. Bunk is a Democrat who ran in the 2010 primary for this same seat. However, at the August 17 primary, two Republicans placed first and second. The editorial says both Republicans are deeply flawed.
Fortunately for Washington state voters, the Washington state top-two system permits write-ins at the general election, unlike the California version. Thanks to Krist Novoselic for the link.
