On September 18, the New York Supreme Court, Suffolk County, won its lawsuit to expel a mass entry into the party by members of four organizations that represent Long Island police, especially the Suffolk County Police Benevolent Association. New York state law already gives parties the ability to cancel the enrollment of registered members of the party who are not in sympathy with the principles of the party. In this particular case, Walsh v Abramowitz, 31670-09, that law was applied. The Court determined that a mass entry into the party had been made by police for the purposing of defeating the Suffolk County Sheriff for re-election. The Suffolk County Sheriff is an enrolled Conservative, and police were angry at him because of a dispute over whether police, or sheriffs, should have the job of patrolling the Long Island Expressway and Sunrise Highway. Thanks to Bill Van Allen for this news. As a result of the decision, ballots cast in the Conservative Party primary on Septemer 15, 2009 by the members who have now been expelled, will not be counted. Here is the 8-page decision.

On September 22, the Arizona Supreme Court refused to hear the appeal of the city of Phoenix, in Jones v Paniagua. The issue is how many signatures are needed for a city referendum. The law says the number of signatures must be 10% of the vote cast in the last city election. But the uncertainty involved knowing which was the last city election, the 2007 first round (which had a high turnout and included the Mayor’s race), or the 2007 second round (which just had contests in some city council districts, plus a citywide ballot measure), which had a far lower turnout. The State Court of Appeals had ruled in favor of the second round, which meant far fewer signatures for referenda this year.

For many years, Detroit has been the only city among the 20 most populous cities in the U.S. that elects all its city council members at-large, instead of by district. An initiative petition to switch to districts was submitted this year. On September 22, the State Court of Appeals ruled that the initiative is valid, so it will appear on the November 2009 ballot. Last week a lower state court had invalidated the initiative, but that decision has now been reversed. Thanks to Thomas Jones for this news. UPDATE: thanks for the comments, which caused me to be more specific what I meant by “large” cities.