On July 27, the Ohio Supreme Court unanimously ruled that a recall petition against the Mayor of Toledo is invalid because the petition sheets failed to carry these words: “Whoever Commits Election Falsification is Guilty of a Felony of the 5th Degree.”

The Toledo City Charter has provisions for recalls, and does not mention that recall petitions need this sentence. But the state election law does include it. The Court ruled that recall petitions need to follow both state election law and local laws.

The minority on the State Supreme Court would have thrown the case out on procedural grounds, because the Mayor filed his lawsuit directly with the State Supreme Court instead of the lower court. The case is State ex rel Finkbeiner v Lucas Co. Bd. of Elections, 2009-3657. Thanks to Steve Linnabary for this news.

On July 24, identical bills were introduced in both Houses of Congress to require the states to let ex-felons vote in federal elections. They are HR 3335 and S1516. They provide, “The right of an individual who is a citizen of the United States to vote in any election for Federal office shall not be denied or abridged because that individual has been convicted of a criminal offense unless such individual is serving a felony sentence in a correctional institution or facility at the time of the election.”

S1516 is sponsored by Senator Russell Feingold (D-Wisconsin) and has two co-sponsors. HR 3335 is sponsored by Congressmember John Conyers (D-Michigan) and has 28 co-sponsors.

There are three major groups of competent adult U.S. citizens who are frequently denied the free exercise of the vote: (1) felons and ex-felons; (2) residents of the District of Columbia and the territories; (3) members of minor parties and supporters of independent candidates. The harm to voting rights to any of these three groups tends to bolster the harm to the other groups as well. Deprivation of voting rights of one type excuses the deprivation of voting rights of other types.

Therefore, it is fitting that Congressman John Conyers, who introduced bills to outlaw restrictive ballot access laws affecting minor party and independent candidates repeatedly in the 1980’s, is the lead sponsor of HR 3335. Thanks to ElectionLawBlog for the news about these bills.

On July 27, New Jersey independent gubernatorial candidate Chris Daggett announced that his Lieutenant Governor running mate will be Frank J. Esposito. Esposito is the interim dean for the College of Education at Kean University in Union, New Jersey.

The ticket is entitled to $700,000 in public funding, because Daggett had raised $350,000 earlier this year in private donations. The election is November 3, 2009.