On October 27, the North Dakota Libertarian Party turned in its petition to be a party in that state in 2008. Most states don’t care how early a petition to create a new party begins to circulate, so this early submission is entirely legal.

New York state uses a party-column or party-row type of ballot. The order of parties on November 7 will be: Republican, Democratic, Independence, Conservative, Working Families, Green, Libertarian, Rent is Too Damn High/Socialist Equality, and Socialist Workers.

The old-fashioned lever machines only have 9 columns or 9 rows, so the Board has put the Rent is Too Damn High Party (which only has nominees for Governor & Lt. Gov.) in the same column/row as the Socialist Equality Party (which only has a candidate for US Senate).

This is the last year New York or any other state will be using old-fashioned mechanical voting machines.

On October 26, the Alabama Supreme Court voted 5-4 to keep a lower court ruling in place, until the lawsuit Gooden v Worley has been fully litigated. The lower court ruling, issued August 23, 2006, lets ex-felons and felons register to vote, at least until the legislature defines the term “moral turpitude”. The Alabama Constitution says persons convicted of crimes of “moral turpitude” can be barred from registering to vote. However, neither the Constitution, nor any state law, defines “moral turpitude”. Over the years, election officials in some counties have said that convictions for drunk driving, attempted burglary, and other crimes, are crimes of “moral turpitude”, whereas elections officials in other counties have said they are not.