On October 21, a presidential debate for candidates who are on the ballot in states containing a majority of the electoral vote was announced. It will be Thursday evening, October 23, 9 pm thru 10:30 pm, at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D.C. It is likely that C-SPAN will cover it, since both Ralph Nader and Chuck Baldwin have said they will participate.
On October 15, Allen Stevo asked the 7th circuit for rehearing en banc, in his case over the number of signatures needed for an independent candidate for U.S. House in Illinois. Stevo v Keith, 08-3218. Illinois requires exactly 5,000 signatures in some election years, but approximately twice as many in other election years. Even in the years when only 5,000 were required, no independent has ever qualified for U.S. House in Illinois. Not withstanding that, the original panel of the 7th circuit had upheld requiring him to get approximately 10,000 this year.
Meanwhile, a parallel case in state court on behalf of Dan Druck, a Libertarian candidate for U.S. House, lost in the State Court of Appeals, also on October 15. Furthermore, the State Court of Appeals panel added gratuitously that it has been a legal error all these years for Illinois to place candidates on the ballot who submit a number of signatures below the legal requirement, if such candidates are not challenged. This issue had nothing to do with the case, and surprised both sides. The Druck case will probably be appealed to the State Supreme Court. Illinois has traditionally put anyone on the ballot who submits even one signature, if no one challenges that petition.
The October 27 issue of The New Yorker magazine has this feature article about Bob Barr and his presidential campaign.
On October 20, Tennessee State Senator Rosalind Kurita asked the 6th circuit to put her on the ballot as the Democratic nominee for State Senate in her district. Kurita v The State Primary Board of the Tennessee Democratic Party, 08-6245.
On October 20, a lower state court ruled that the Vermont Secretary of State was following the law when she disallowed the Green Party’s status as a qualified minor party, back in January 2008. The consequence is that Cynthia McKinney will not be on the ballot, and voters who wish to vote her will need to cast a write-in vote. Vermont does not require write-in candidates to file a declaration of write-in candidacy. However, Vermont has a bad record when it comes to tallying write-ins for president and making the tally part of its official state election returns. For example, in 2004, the Vermont Secretary of State refused to provide a tally of write-ins for David Cobb (Green Party presidential candidate) and Michael Peroutka (Constitution Party presidential candidate). Maybe this year she will handle presidential write-ins better.
The lawsuit is Hill v Markowitz, Washington County Superior Court, 640-9-08.
