On December 21, the 5th circuit expedited the lawsuit Mississippi State Democratic Party v Barbour, 07-60667. The 5th circuit also stayed the U.S. District order, so while the case is pending, Mississippi Democratic primaries will remain open to all registered voters. The U.S. District Court had let the Democratic Party close its primaries. Thanks to Steve Rankin for this news.
The lawsuit challenging Tennessee’s ballot access laws for new parties was to have been filed on December 21, but it has been postponed til next week, because the lead attorney’s output was slowed up by a power outage that lasted 5 days.
Former Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson failed to get on the Delaware Republican presidential primary ballot. 500 signatures were due on December 10. Thompson turned in 580 signatures, five minutes before the deadline. However, Delaware elections officials check signatures, and determined that only 430 signatures were valid. If he had turned them in earlier, and the state had checked the signatures before the deadline, he would have been free to get more signatures. However, it was too late for a supplemental petition.
The December 20 issue of The Huffington Post reports that for the last several months, Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York city and U.S. Senator Chuck Hagel have been holding regular phone conversations. The author of the article believes that they may have been talking about forming a joint independent ticket.
On December 21, the Illinois State Board of Elections ruled that Alan Keyes should be on the Republican presidential primary ballot, even though 3,000 signatures are required and Keyes submitted fewer than 200 signatures. The man who challenged Keyes’ petitions recently revoked his own voter registration, so he no longer had the legal ability to bring a challenge.
