The U.S. District Court in Grand Rapids, Michigan, will hold a heareing in Hayes v Michigan Democratic Party on Monday, January 7, at 10 a.m. This is the case in which a Democratic Party activist argues that the presidential primary (set for January 15) should be cancelled or postponed. The case number is 1:07-cv-1237. It is before Judge Robert J. Jonker, who only became a U.S. District Court Judge this year.

The California Peace & Freedom Party will host a presidential candidate debate. All seven candidates in the party’s presidential primary are invited. It will be in San Francisco, Saturday, January 12, between 1 p.m. and 4 p.m., at the Brava Theater, 2781 24th St., upstairs.

The seven presidential candidates on the PFP primary ballot are: Stewart Alexander, John Crockford, Stanley Hetz, Gloria LaRiva, Cynthia McKinney, Brian Moore, and Ralph Nader. Since Nader has not declared yet that he is running for president, it seems unlikely that he will attend.

An anomaly in Arkansas election law will require a special election to be held on January 1, 2008. It is virtually unheard of for any jurisdiction to ever hold a public election on a holiday. However, Arkansas law requires an election “run-off” (of this type) to be held exactly three weeks from the first election.

In this particular case, the two cities of Farmington and Prairie Grove, in northwest Arkansas, each voted to annex a particular subdivision. Since it is obvious that both cities can’t annex the particular area, the law provides that the voters in the area to be annexed should vote on which city to join. That type of election must be held exactly three weeks after the original election. Since the previous election was held on December 11, there is no escaping that the new election must be on January 1.