U.S. District Court Issues a Temporary Restraining Order Against Enforcement of North Carolina Law that Bans Untrue Political Ads

Posted on by July 25, 2022
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On July 25, U.S. District Court Judge Catherine Eagles, an Obama appointee, issued a Temporary Restraining Order against enforcement of North Carolina statute 163-274(a)(9), a law passed in 1931 that makes it illegal for anyone to issue a campaign ad with any untrue statement. Here is the Complaint in Grimmett v Circosta, m.d., 1:22cv-568, which was filed on July 21, 2022.

The lead plaintiff is an individual who was involved with the production of an ad in 2020 run by the Democratic candidate for Attorney General, Josh Stein, who won his election. The Josh Stein for Attorney General Campaign is another co-plaintiff. Stein charged that his Republican opponent, a District Attorney, is about to prosecute him over one line in a Stein ad that charged his Republican opponent with letting a backlog of rape text kits accumulate. The Republican candidate said that was false because he was not responsible in his county for clearing the backlog.

According to the Complaint, that 1931 law had never before been used. The Complaint says the law violates the First Amendment.

New Jersey State Court Considers Whether Some Local Partisan Candidates Should Have been on Primary Ballot, Even Though They Already Won Their Primary

Posted on by July 25, 2022
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A New Jersey state court will decide whether two particular candidates should or should not have been on the 2022 primary ballot, even though the primary was held June 7 and the candidates won their primary. The candidates include a Democrat running for Union County Commissioner, and a pair of Republicans running for Howell Township Council. See this story.

Updated New York Registration Data

Posted on by July 25, 2022
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The New York State Board of Elections has released registration data as of June 6, 2022. The active voters totals are: Democratic 5,980,144; Republican 2,648,235; Independence 363,437; Conservative 152,876; Working Families 45,613; Green 20,724; Libertarian 19,421; SAM 527; independent and other 2,762,169.

The percentages are: Democratic 49.86%; Republican 22.08%; Independence 3.03%; Conservative 1.27%; Working Families .38%; Green .17%; Libertarian .16%; SAM .004%; independent and other 23.03%.

The percentages in October 2020 were: Democratic 50.06%; Republican 22.20%; Independence 3.51%; Conservative 1.22%; Working Families .33%; Green .20%; Libertarian .16%; SAM .005%; independent and other 22.31%.

It is somewhat surprising that the unqualified parties did not suffer a greater drop in registration. Here is the New York registration form. There is a checkbox for the qualified parties, but an applicant must write in the name of an unqualified party in order to register into it.

Utah U.S. Senate Poll

Posted on by July 25, 2022
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On July 20, a Deseret News Poll showed these results for the U.S. Senate race in Utah: Republican Mike Lee 41%; independent Evan McMullin 36%; “other” 14%; don’t know 8%. See here.

There are only four candidates on the ballot in the race. The pollsters could have a done a better job of they had listed all four. Those not mentioned by the poll include the Libertarian nominee and the nominee of the Independent American Party. Thanks to Eric Garris for the link.