Utah Libertarians Win Last-Minute Ballot Access Case

Posted on by October 31, 2008
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On October 31, a Utah state court ordered Libertarian Party nominee Mike Stoddard back onto the ballot for State Auditor. The case is Stoddard v Herbert, 3rd judicial district, 080923182.

Utah uses DRE vote-casting machines, so there is no problem with printing ballots; a candidate can be deleted or added to the ballot by a manipulation of the computer program. Of course, absentee mail voters use a paper ballot, but here again there was no problem, because the absentee ballots had been printed with Stoddard’s name on them. If he had not won the case, though, absentee voters who voted for him would have not had their votes counted.

Stoddard had been removed from the ballot on October 28 because he didn’t file a final campaign finance report. But he immediately filed the report, and then won the lawsuit on the basis that the law, although ambiguous, seems to say that when candidates file late, they should not be stricken from the ballot. Thanks to Rob Latham for this news.

Minor Party Presidential Candidates May Alter Outcome in Louisiana

Posted on by October 31, 2008
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On October 31, Louisiana TV station WWL-TV released a presidential poll. The results: McCain 43%, Obama 40%, other 3%, undecided/refused 15%. See here for more detail. The article does not mention the “other” figure, but if one clicks on the link inside the article, one goes to a page that does include it. Ron Paul is on the Louisiana ballot as the candidate of the Louisiana Taxpayers Party, which is just a ballot slogan, not an actual organization.

The Hazards of Getting a Write-in Vote for President Counted

Posted on by October 31, 2008
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No group of voters (except for ex-felons and felons, and residents the District of Columbia, and of the U.S. territorial possessions) is treated worse than voters who cast a write-in vote for president, even if the presidential candidate has filed for write-in status.

States don’t tally any write-in votes for president until December, and sometimes January. Certain areas of the country illegally don’t count them at all. Washington, Oregon, Alaska, and the District of Columbia all refuse to provide a tally for the declared write-in candidates. In the case of the District of Columbia, this is especially egregious, since a D.C. court explicitly ordered such tallies for declared write-in presidential candidates, in 1975, in the aftermath of the Kamins v D.C. Board of Elections lawsuit. Also, in the case of Oregon, the State Supreme Court ruled in 1945 that the Oregon Constitution protects write-in votes.

New York city habitually fails to count any write-in votes for the declared write-in presidential candidates. The Board says it is too much work to take down the heavy rolls of paper from the mechanical voting machines and look at them. About 15 counties in Pennsylvania, including Philadelphia, also regularly fail to tally any write-in votes at general elections. A proposed lawsuit to challenge this behavior in Pennsylvania has been talked about for almost two years now, but the attorneys still have not filed it.

Phil Berg Files Anti-Obama Case in Both the 3rd Circuit and the U.S. Supreme Court

Posted on by October 31, 2008
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On October 30, Philadelphia attorney Phil Berg filed his appeal in Berg v Obama in the 3rd circuit, case number 08-4340. That Court has not acted. Berg then filed with the U.S. Supreme Court, case number 08-570.

The U.S. Court of Appeals Clerk’s office is treating this case in an unusual manner. Normally, when one telephones the Clerk’s office and asks about the status of a case, someone in the clerical staff answers the question. In this particular case, the employees have been told not to release any information, without having the caller speak to one of the attorneys who works in the Clerk’s office.

The case concerns Berg’s assertions that Obama does not meet the constitutional qualifications to be president. The U.S. District Court had ruled earlier this month that Berg lacks standing.