The Trentonian, daily newspaper of New Jersey’s capital city, has this editorial in its October 5 issue. The title is “Daggett for Governor? Why Not?”, and it suggests that independent gubernatorial candidate Chris Daggett would be the best choice for the state. However, it does not make that explicit.
Professor James Bennett’s new book, “Not Invited to the Party: How the Demopublicans Have Rigged the System and Left Independents Out in the Cold” will be released on October 13, 2009. It is hardcover, 211 pages, and will sell for $24.50.
Professor Bennett is a Professor of Economics at George Mason University and has published at least 18 other books. He wrote an earlier version of “Not Invited to the Party”, which was released a year ago. However, that book was only 141 pages and sold for $99, so it didn’t get the attention that the new version will receive. Last year’s version was “Stifling Political Competition: How Government Has Rigged the System to Benefit Demopublicans and Exclude Third Parties.”
New York is holding a special election on November 3, 2009, to fill the vacant U.S. House seat. According to this article in the Syracuse Post-Standard of October 4, it is very likely that a substantial number of overseas military will not be able to have their vote counted in this election. A spokesperson for the Overseas Vote Foundation predicts that the federal government will soon sue New York again over this issue.
On October 3, Brett McClafferty, who is age 21, said he will drop his lawsuit to overturn a city ordinance that requires candidates to be at least age 23 to be on the City Council. He had filed it on September 24, 2009. The Streetsboro, Ohio election is on November 3, 2009, and early voting had already started by the time of the first hearing in the case. U.S. District Court Judge Sarah Lioi had already ruled she would not stop early voting. The case was McClafferty v Portage County Board of Elections. See this story. Thanks to Carter Momberger for the link.
On October 3, the South Dakota Democratic Party held a meeting in Chamberlain, and voted to let independent voters vote in Democratic Party primaries.
In 1986 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that if parties wish to allow independents to vote in their primaries, that is their choice, regardless of what state election law says. That case is Tashjian v Republican Party of Connecticut, 479 U.S. 208. South Dakota election law already acknowledges that parties may invite independents into their primaries, but no South Dakota party has previously done this.
