On September 1, a U.S. District Court in Cleveland enjoined Ohio from enforcing certain laws relating to voter registration. Project Vote v Blackwell, 1:06cv-1628. The judge was Kathleen O’Malley, a Clinton appointee. The law, passed in 2005, made it illegal for groups that conduct voter registration drives to submit completed voter registration forms as a package. Instead, each individual volunteer in that organization had to submit his or her forms personally to the county elections office. The law also required registration volunteers to compete a training course on their home computer, which made it impossible for people without computers to participate.

Gallup Polls released US Senate results in five states today. Among the results was Pennsylvania, where the Democratic nominee is 18 points ahead of the Republican nominee. When one surveys recent polls for all US Senate races, one finds that there are eleven US Senate races that are far closer than Pennsylvania. The states with closer poll results, and the margin by which one candidate is leading another, are: Connecticut (2), Michigan (9), Minnesota (10), Missouri (6), Montana (3), Nevada (3), New Jersey (4), Ohio (6), Tennesee (6), Virginia (1), Washington (6).

Greens are running in seven of the eleven closest states, and Libertarians are running in six of the eleven closest states. Yet neither the major parties, not the press, has paid much attention to the Green and Libertarian nominees in those races. It is ironic that Democrats have focused so much hostility toward the Green Party for running in Pennsylvania, and so little attention to US Senate minor party nominees in other states.

In the Connecticut U.S. Senate race, both Senator Joseph Lieberman and Democratic nominee Ned Lamont have said they will participate in a 5-person debate. The other three nominees on the ballot are the Republican, Green and Constitution (Concerned Citizens) nominees. Thanks to Austin Cassidy for this news.