On August 19, the Louisiana Supreme Court ruled 4-3 that Shreveport Mayor Adrian Perkins should be on the ballot for re-election. Deal v Perkins. Here is the Opinion. The issue is whether the penalty for making clerical errors on candidacy declaration forms is to be blocked from the ballot or not.
The decision is based on statutory construction.
On August 19, the U.S. Supreme Court rebuked the Eleventh Circuit for staying a U.S. District Court on the subject of Georgia Public Service Commissioner elections. Georgia elects Public Service Commissioners on a statewide basis. In 2020 some Georgia voters had filed a lawsuit arguing that the at-large methods injures Black voters. Earlier this year, the U.S. District Court had ruled in favor of those voters, and had told Georgia not to hold general elections for that office this year (even though that office had been on the ballot in the 2022 primaries).
The Eleventh Circuit then stayed the U.S. District Court order and told the state to hold the two elections (two seats are up this year).
Now the U.S. Supreme Court has said that the Eleventh Circuit’s rationale for reversing the U.S. District Court, the Purcell Principle, was improper. The “Purcell Principle” is a doctrine that courts should not change election administration procedures too close to an election.
The U.S. Supreme Court says the Eleventh Circuit is still free to stop the Public Service Commissioner elections on other grounds, if it wishes to. But it must not use the Purcell Principle. Here is the U.S. Supreme Court order.
On August 16, the Pennsylvania House State Government Committee held a hearing on HB 1369, which would let independent voters choose a primary ballot. The bill is not clear as to whether voters registered in minor parties could also vote in a primary. In Pennsylvania, only the Democratic and Republican Parties ever have primaries. The law requires a party to have registration of 15% in order to have its own primary.
HB 1369 had been introduced in 2021, and its backers had been waiting a long time for a hearing. The State Government Committee hasn’t yet acted on the bill.
This Anchorage Daily News story says the 2023 session of the legislature is likely to consider bills altering the top-four system. Thanks to Scott Kohlhaas for the link.
On August 17, the Georgia Secretary of State filed this brief in the U.S. Supreme Court in Rose v Raffensperger, 22A136. The state is defending at-large elections for that office. The case had been filed by proponents of district elections. The U.S. District Court had issued a ruling against at-large elections, but the 11th circuit had then voted 2-1 to allow at-large elections for this year.
