The Idaho Democratic presidential primary, set for May 27, only has three names on the ballot: Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and Keith Russell Judd. The April 9 issue of Boise Weekly has this story about Judd. Since then, other Idaho newspapers have picked up the story. Judd has been an inmate of a federal prison in Texas since 1999. He was convicted for sending a threatening letter and is not set for release until 2013. Thanks to Michael Thompson.

Idaho presidential primary ballot access is automatic for candidates mentioned in the news media. Others qualify by paying $1,000. Judd paid the fee from his prison checking account. Idaho Secretary of State Ben Ysursa has been quoted as saying that he may ask the legislature to make it more difficult for candidates to get on the presidential primary ballot. Ysursa also said he was “conned”, but even if he had known Judd is a convict, the U.S. Constitution does not permit states to bar candidates from running for federal office just because they are felons.

On April 16, a U.S. District Court Judge in Waco, Texas, ruled against the Texas Democratic Party, in a lawsuit with the name Texas Democratic Party v Republican Party of Texas, no. MO-08-CA-005 (western district). As a result, the Texas Democratic Party nominee for the Texas House, district 82, may have trouble getting on the November ballot.

The nominee, Bill Dingus, had not resigned his seat on the Midland City Council when he ran in the March 2008 primary for state legislature. The Texas Constitution requires candidates who already hold certain kinds of public office to resign before they can run for the legislature. This law was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1982. But Democrats thought they could get around that barrier, in the 2008 election matter in this one district, because back in 1996 a court order had been issued in a Voting Rights case that said Midland city councilmembers need not resign to run for another office. That 1996 case was a fight over whether Midland should have at-large city council elections or district elections, and was intended to preserve flexibility during the period when no one knew how Midland would be electing councilmembers.

But in the 2008 case, the judge said that Midland court order from 1996 doesn’t apply to the current situation. The Democratic candidate had still not been removed from the November ballot, but he probably will be removed. If the Secretary of State removes him, it is possible the party could then fill the vacancy created. Thanks to Ross Ramsey for the decision.