Federal Judge in Pennsylvania Holds a Second Hearing on Baldwin Ballot Status

On September 11, a U.S. District Court Judge held a second hearing on Baldwin v Cortes, the ballot access case in Pennsylvania for Chuck Baldwin and the other Constitution Party statewide candidates. This time the hearing was by telephone. It seems somewhat likely the decision will be handed down by the end of the day, September 12. It is still very difficult to predict what will happen.

Oklahoma Ballot Access Hearing Likely Sep. 15-19

Bob Barr’s lawsuit against the Oklahoma ballot access law is expected to have a hearing sometime during the week of September 15-19. The case had been filed on July 17. It is Barr v Clingman, civ-08-730-R.

Oklahoma has not permitted voters to vote for anyone for president, other than the Democratic and Republican nominees, since 2000. The state bans write-ins, and has the nation’s only petition requirement for president (using the easier method in each state) that is in excess of 2% of the last vote cast.

Clever Obama Website for Voter Registration

The Obama campaign has set up www.voteforchange.com, to make it very easy for unregistered citizens to register to vote. The website asks a prospective voter basic questions, such as name, address, party affiliation, and other personal identifying information. Then, the website automatically fills out a voter registration application for whatever state the voter lives in. The voter is then free to print the completed application on that voter’s home printer, and sign it, and mail it to the state or local election administration address that has already been pre-printed on the form. The site is completely non-partisan and does not collect the personal information provided. Interesting, under the box for “choice of party”, the choices are Democratic, Republican, Independent, Libertarian, Green, other, and none. An entry under “other” will accept any designation. Thanks to Ed Still’s VoteLawBlog for this news.