On October 4, U.S. District Court Judge Myron Thompson, a Carter appointee, issued an opinion in Greater Birmingham Ministries v Merrill, m.d., 2:22cv-205. It says that the Alabama Secretary of State must release certain voter registration records to the voting rights group that requested them at cost, instead of using the legal formula that required fees of thousands of dollars. The basis is the federal Voting Rights Act.
Here is the 27-page opinion.
The October 7 print edition of the New York Times has an op-ed by Sarah Vowell, advocating that voters in Montana’s U.S. House, second district, elect an independent candidate, Gary Buchanan. See it here. Buchanan has been endorsed by former Republican Governor Marc Racicot, who is also a former chair of the Republican National Committee.
On October 6, the nominees of the Democratic, Republican and Libertarian Parties for U.S. Senate from Arizona debated each other. The debate was aired on PBS. See this story.
On October 6, U.S. District Court Judge Mark Cohen, an Obama appointee, refused to enjoin the Georgia law that lets individuals contribute as much as they want to the campaign of a Republican or Democrat for Governor or Lieutenant Governor, but which caps the contribution limit for other gubernatorial candidates at $7,600. The reason has to do with standing. The Libertarian Party and its nominee for Lieutenant Governor have appealed. Graham v Carr, n.d., 1:22cv-3613. Here is the order denying relief.
The Maine Libertarian Party’s ballot access case, filed in 2019, is still active. Still to be decided is whether the Libertarian Party is ballot-qualified for 2024. The Maine law gives a party two elections after it qualifies. It was put on the 2022 ballot by the court, and at the time no decision was made about when that status expires. Here is the party’s last brief in Baines v Bellows, 1:19cv-509. It was filed September 29.
