On October 17, the New York State Supreme Court, Appellate Division, ordered a new primary for the Independence Party in Orange County, for the office of Surrogate’s Court Judge. The original primary results, in September, had been 222 votes for Robert Onofry, and 213 votes for Stephen Hunter. But Hunter had sued to overturn the results. In eight precincts, no voter registered with the Independence Party had signed in to vote, yet the mechanical voting machines set up for the Independence Party primary showed 9 votes in that Independence Party primary. Also, in seven other precincts, there were 17 more votes cast than there were Independence Party voters who had signed in.

The lower court, on October 3, had upheld the results anyway. Judge Joseph Owen said it didn’t matter that some voters apparently didn’t sign in, and that the votes should be assumed to be valid anyway. The Appellate Division reversed late on the afternoon of October 17, after hearing oral argument.

The two candidates seeking the Independence Party nomination for Surrogate’s Court Judge are also major party nominees for that same office. Onofry is the Republican and Conservative nominee, and Hunter is the Democratic and Working Families nominee. Presumably the new primary will be held later in October, in time for the results to be known so that the November ballots can be correctly printed. Thanks to Bill Van Allen for this news.

On October 16, the TV/Radio show Democracy Now!, broadcasting from Atlanta, hosted Cynthia McKinney in person, and Ralph Nader on the phone, reacting to various debate questions in the October 15 Obama-McCain debate. Here is the transcript.

On October 17, an Arkansas Circuit Court ruled against Dwayne Dobbins, who is trying to get on the ballot for State Representative, 39th district. Dobbins had won the Democratic primary for that office in May, but in July the Democratic Party had refused to accept his nomination, leaving the Democratic Party with no nominee on the ballot in November. Judge Chris Piazza said he would have enjoyed getting into the merits of the case, but that Dobbins filed the case too late. Dobbins had filed the case on October 10. Dobbins will now ask the Arkansas Supreme Court for relief.

The only candidate now on the ballot in November for the 39th state rep district is Richard Carroll, the Green Party nominee.

The Democratic Party had rejected Dobbins because he had earlier resigned from the legislature as part of a plea bargain. His wife had then taken his seat. But in 2008, his wife had surprised everyone by not filing for re-election; instead Dobbins had filed for the seat at the last minute. He was the only person on the ballot in the May Democratic primary, and Arkansas does not permit write-ins in primaries.