The August 23 issue of The Eagle-Tribune of North Andover, Massachusetts, has this story, saying New Hampshire Republican state house member Anthony DiFruscia says he will run for re-election in 2010 as an independent candidate, not as a Republican. Tne Eagle-Tribune servers southern New Hampshire as well as the adjoining part of Massachusetts.
The August 23 issue of the Albany (New York) Times Union has this story, about voters who own homes in two different regions of New York state, and who are registered at both addresses.
The Help America Vote Act passed by Congress in 2002 requires the states to create a statewide registry of registered voters, to catch problems like this. But, some states have trouble keeping their statewide list up-to-date. Thanks to Bill Van Allen for the link.
The New York Times published this editorial in its local edition on August 21. It expresses concern that the Working Families Party is too closely associated with Data and Field Services, a for-profit company that assists electoral campaigns. The Times fears that Data and Field Services sells its services at cut rates for candidates favored by the Working Families Party.
On August 21, U.S. District Court Judge Edmund A. Sargus issued a temporary injunction to block an Ohio campaign finance law. The case is O’Brien v Brunner, 2:09-cv-733, sou. dist. The law says if one candidate in a race spends a considerable amount of his or her own money, the opponents of that candidate are freed from having to obey contribution limits when they raise money. See this story. The case had been filed on August 20 by Sandra O’Brien, a Republican running in next year’s primary for Secretary of State. The injunctive relief prevents one of her opponents, State Senator Jon Husted, from immediately raising large contributions.
The outcome was not surprising, because last year the U.S. Supreme Court invalidated a similar federal campaign law in Davis v Federal Election Commission.
On August 21, a County Commissioner in La Plata County, Colorado, switched her registration from “Democratic” to “independent”. See this story. Colorado, like most states, has partisan elections for county office. The Commissioner who switched, Joelle Riddle, says she believes county office elections should be non-partisan. She has not said if she will run for re-election in 2010 as an independent.
