The U.S. Supreme Court will consider whether to hear Rogers v Cortez on Monday, September 24, 2007. This is the Court’s first day back from its summer vacation. Rogers v Cortes (which has also sometimes been known as Rogers v Corbett) is the case filed by the Green and Constitution Parties of Pennsylvania, and by activists of the Libertarian Party of Pennsylvania, against the law that says even though a party is qualified (because it polled 2% of the vote in the last election), is should be treated as though it isn’t qualified for ballot access purposes, unless it has registration membership of 15% of the state total. If the Pennsylvania law existed in Utah, the Democratic Party would be off the ballot; if the Pennsylvania law existed in the District of Columbia and Massachusetts, the Republican Party would be off the ballot.

The Pennsylvania Attorney General has already waived his right to respond to the plaintiffs’ request that the Court hear the case. The Center for Competitive Democracy will be filing an amicus curiae brief in a few days, also asking the Court to hear the case. The Center for Competitive Democracy brief will point out that this case involves voters’ rights as well as the rights of candidates and parties. The CCD brief will contain evidence that write-in votes in some counties in Pennsylvania are routinely not counted. Printing for the CCD brief is paid for by COFOE (the Coalition for Free & Open Elections). COFOE thanks everyone who has contributed for this purpose.

On July 23, a Quinnipiac University poll was released for a proposed general election presidential race in Florida. It was conducted July 12-16 and included 1,106 sample members.

With only Rudy Giuliani and Hillary Clinton in the mix, the results are: Giuliani 46%, Clinton 44%, other and undecided 10%.

With Bloomberg included, the results are: Clinton 41%, Giuliani 39%, Mike Bloomberg 9%, other and undecided 11%.

Also, 57% of respondents say they don’t know enough about Bloomberg to have an opinion.

On July 20, Indiana independent candidate Mark Herak filed a lawsuit to get back on the November 2007 ballot. He is running for re-election to the city council of Highland, a small city in Lake County, Indiana. His ballot label is “Highland First Party.”

He was removed from the ballot by the Lake County Election Board on July 18, on the grounds that he isn’t a “true” independent. However, Indiana election law does not limit who may be an independent candidate, except that the candidate must not have lost a partisan primary for the same office in the same election year.

The Board said he isn’t a “true” independent because he won the previous election as a Republican nominee, because he voted in the May 2007 Republican primary, and because he still has custody of a piece of Republican Party equipment in his garage. That piece of equipment is a hot dog vendor stand. The vote on the Board was 3-2, with the Republican members voting to keep Herak off the ballot and the Democratic members voting to leave him on the ballot. The lawsuit is called Herak v Lake County Election Board, and it has a hearing in Hammond, Indiana, at 9 am on Wednesday, July 25.