The January 15 New York Times carries this signed editorial, fearing that the U.S. Supreme Court no longer cares about protecting the rights of voters. Thanks to Rick Hasen’s election law blog for this.
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On January 15, the Chicago Tribune published this story about how Barack Obama won his first Democratic primary in 1996 (for State Senate) by successfully challenging the primary petitions of all the other Democrats who were running for that seat, including the incumbent State Senator. Thanks to Earl Divoky for this.
On January 14, a Nevada state court judge ruled that Dennis Kucinich must be allowed to participate in the January 15 debate, along with Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John Edwards. The debate will be televised on MSNBC, and is hosted by MSNBC.
The basis for the ruling was that MSNBC had previously invited Kucinich, and then revoked its invitation. Thanks to Eric Garris for this news. UPDATE: MSNBC is appealing. The appeal will obviously be decided on January 15.
On January 14, a Mississippi Circuit judge ruled that the state must hold a special election to fill Trent Lott’s U.S. Senate seat before March 19, 2008. The ruling came after 5 pm. The case is State ex rel Hood v Barbour, 251-08-02-cv, Hinds County.
The lawsuit involved an interpretation of Mississippi law regarding vacancies in the U.S. Senate. Lott resigned in December 2007. The law’s intent seems to be that special elections for U.S. Senate should be held within 90 days of the vacancy, unless the state is about to hold a regularly-scheduled statewide election. The legislator who wrote the law didn’t seem to think about what would happen if the vacancy occurred in November or December of an election year. 2007 was a statewide election year in Mississippi; all state offices were up then.
The case will almost certainly be appealed very quickly to the State Supreme Court. Democrats tend to want an election soon; Republicans tend to hope that there will be no special election until November 2008. That is because Governor Barbour, a Republican, appointed Roger Wicker to the seat, and both Barbour and Wicker would prefer that there be no election for ten months. Thanks to Steve Rankin for this news.
Indiana holds a special U.S. House election on March 11, to fill the vacant 7th district seat. Indiana political parties nominate by convention, in special U.S. House elections. The 3 qualified parties have each nominated someone. The Democratic nominee, Andre Carson, was nominated on January 12. He is the grandson of the deceased former member of Congress (Julia Carson) and if elected, he would be the 2nd Muslim member of Congress. The Republican nominee is Jon Elrod. The Libertarian nominee is Sean Sheppard.
Independents, and the nominees of unqualified parties, must submit approximately 3,900 signatures by noon at January 22, in order to be on the ballot. The 7th district contains most of the city of Indianapolis.