Wednesday, February 27: The US Supreme Court issued no election law decisions today. It did not release either of the two pending election law cases (the one from Washington state on the top-two primary, and the one from Indiana on photo ID at the polls).
Ralph Nader’s campaign says that just since he announced, he has received contributions for his presidential campaign of $35,000, from 344 individuals.
With 42% of the vote counted, Democrat Darrel Aubertine is leading Republican Will Barclay by about 2,000 votes, in the special New York State Senate 48th district election on February 26. It will be some time before a breakdown of all 5 parties’ vote totals in available. The Working Families Party had cross-endorsed Aubertine; the Conservative and Independence Parties had cross-endorsed Barclay.
According to newspaper reports, this will be the first time this area of upstate New York has sent a Democrat to the Senate in over 100 years (assuming the initial returns hold up). The district has about 78,000 registered Republicans, 47,000 registered Democrats, and 35,000 others. Thanks to Bill Van Allen for this news.
On Tuesday, February 26, the US Supreme Court issued one opinion in a non-election law case. But it did not release either of the two pending election law cases (the one from Washington state on the top-two primary, and the one from Indiana on photo ID at the polls).
The Court will again consider whether to take Citizens United v FEC at its February 29 conference. It has not rescheduled a new conference date yet for Bartlett v Strickland, the North Carolina redistricting case.
The Oregon legislature adjourned for the year on February 22. SB 1102, which would have legalized fusion, failed to pass.
