On the evening of August 14, Sunday, the plaintiffs in Rose v Raffensperger asked the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene. This is the case over whether Georgia is violating the federal Voting Rights Act by holding at-large elections for Public Service Commissioner. The U.S. District Court had ruled that at-large elections for this office should no longer be held. That court ruled that Georgia should not hold two such at-large elections in November 2022.

But then the Eleventh Circuit had voted 2-1 that such an order violates the Purcell Principle, the idea that courts should not change the mechanics of election administration too soon before an election. Some lower courts have been expanding the Purcell Principle so that no changes can ever get made in the election year, as a result of a lawsuit. For example, the U.S. District Court in Florida that is hearing the People’s Party ballot access case used the Purcell Principle to reject putting the party’s nominee for Pasco County office on the November ballot.

Here is the U.S. Supreme Court filing in Rose. Thanks to ElectionLawBlog for the link.

On August 13, Hawaii held primaries for all six qualified parties. Here are the unofficial returns. If one scrolls to the bottom, one can see how many voters chose each party’s primary ballot. For the minor parties, the Green ballot was requested by 1,473 voters, Aloha Aina by 1,051 voters, Libertarian by 598, and Constitution by 188.

In the 2020 Hawaii primaries, there were 1,765 voters who chose a Libertarian primary ballot, 1,014 Green, 5,222 Aloha Aina, 278 Constitution, and 268 American Shopping.

On October 12, the Eleventh Circuit stayed the order of a U.S. District Court in Rose v Raffensperger, 22-12593. This is the case over whether Georgia’s Public Service Commissioners should be elected statewide, or in districts. The Eleventh Circuit order, restoring statewide elections for 2022, was 2-1. Judges Adalberto Jordan, an Obama appointee, and Robert J. Luck, a Trump appointee, were in the majority. They said little about the merits, but that the U.S. District Court Judge should not have changed the elections to district elections so close to the election. Judge Robin S. Rosenbaum, an Obama appointee, dissented. Here is the order, in which the dissent is much longer than the majority portion.