On October 6, the U.S. Supreme Court issued orders in hundreds of cases, but did not act on Bob Barr’s request to be put on the Louisiana ballot. The case is Libertarian Party v Dardenne, no. 08A269. All briefs on the injunctive relief matter had been submitted during the period between September 27 and October 2. The U.S. Supreme Court isn’t expected to hand down orders again until October 14, although the Court is free to hand down an individual order at any time.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court will hear the case that is meant to remove Bob Barr from the ballot, during the week of October 6-10. Here is the brief filed on behalf of Barr. Check back to learn the exact day of the hearing, and perhaps to find a link to the other side’s brief. UPDATE: the Pennsylvania Supreme Court will almost certainly decide the case on the briefs, with no oral argument. Here is the Republican Party’s brief.
Washington state has been using government-printed ballots since 1890. In the 116 years between 1890 and 2006, Washington state never had a Democratic-Republican ballot monopoly for all congressional and all state statewide offices. But in 2008, for the first time ever, only Democrats and Republicans are on the ballot for all the statewide state offices and all the congressional offices. This unhappy turn of events is caused by the “top-two” election system, in use for the first time in Washington state this year.
This year, the Libertarian Party has 127 nominees for U.S. House on the ballot, compared to only 114 in 2006.
Also this year, the Green Party has 58 nominees for U.S. House on the ballot, compared to 45 in 2006.
The major parties have about the same number of nominees this year as they did in 2006. The Democrats have 421 this year, compared to 426 in 2006. The Republicans have 393 this year, compared to 392 in 2006.
The Constitution Party has 24 nominees this year, compared to 28 in 2006. The only other party that has nominees for U.S. House on the ballot in more than a single state is the Socialist Workers Party, which has 3 nominees this year (one each in Iowa, New Jersey, and New York).
Arkansas holds State Senate elections next month in 18 districts. In 17 of those districts, only one person is on the ballot. Only the 30th district has a contest, which is between a Democrat and a Republican. Although the Green Party is ballot-qualified, it didn’t run any candidates for the State Senate.
