John Fund, editorial writer for the Wall Street Journal, has a short essay on the possibility that Ron Paul will run for president in the general election as the Libertarian nominee, should Paul fail to win the Republican nomination. See it here.
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On November 26, U.S. Senator Barack Obama issued a press release on voting rights. It says, “Voting is our most basic right and one of our most important responsibilities as Americans. Any law that creates discriminatory barriers to the exercise of this fundamental right should be immediately revoked.”
The purpose of the press release is to publicize the pending U.S. Supreme Court hearing in Indiana Democratic Party v Rokita, also known as Crawford v Marion County Election Board. The hearing is January 9, 2008. The issue is Indiana’s law requiring voters at the polls to show government photo-ID. Senator Obama and 40 members of the U.S. House are listed as “in support” of the amicus curiae brief filed by Congressman Keith Ellison in that case. The Ellison brief can be read here. That brief is one of 23 amici curiae briefs in opposition to the Indiana law. Thanks to Thomas Jones for this news.
On November 28, the Pennsylvania Green Party candidate for U.S. Senator in 2006, Carl Romanelli, asked the Pennsylvania Supreme Court for reargument in the case over whether he must pay over $80,000 plus interest for the costs of removing him from the 2006 ballot. The petition for reargument focuses not only on the federal precedents that the Pennsylvania Court failed to consider, but also on the ambiguities in that court’s November 20 opinion.
Here is the Asociated Press story on the November 27 court decision from New Hampshire, striking down the state law that lets only the qualified parties have the statewide list of registered voters.
On November 27, BBC ran this article about ballot access laws in Russia. Recent changes not only made it more difficult for parties to get on the ballot, and more difficult for them to win seats under the proportional representation formula. It also abolished procedures for independent candidates, so that even sitting independent members of the Duma are unable to run for re-election. Thanks to Rick Kissell.