Pennsylvania hasn’t elected anyone to its legislature, other than a Republican or Democratic nominee, since 1934, when two Socialists were elected from Reading. But this year, polls show that an independent candidate for State Senate, Jodi Borello, is tied with her only opponent, the Republican incumbent. See this story. The race is in the 46th State Senate district in western Pennsylvania.
The Alabama Constitution says Governors must have lived in the state for seven years before running for that office. On October 9, the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that courts cannot enforce that provision before an election. Instead, the decision says, the only possible challenge before an election is to have the candidate’s party adjudicate the matter. State ex rel Dorgan v Tuberville, SC-2026-0540. The decision is unanimous, although two justices recused themselves. In Alabama, State Supreme Court justices are elected in partisan elections. All nine justices are Republicans.
The case had been brought by individuals who argued that Republican nominee Tommy Tuberville doesn’t actually live in Alabama. He is a U.S. Senator from Alabama who owns homes in Washington, D.C., and Florida.
Here is the Opinion. It leaves the door open for a challenge after the election.
The Utah Debate Commission is a private organization of colleges and media organizations, but it is funded by the state government. It sponsors candidate debates. This year, there are no statewide offices on the ballot, so the debates are only for the four U.S. House seats. The Commission sponsors its own polls in advance of its debates. Under the old rules, a candidate needed a showing of 10% to be invited, but the candidate was given the benefit of the margin of error, which is usually 4%. So realistically, a candidate only needed 6% to be invited.
But on August 3, in secret, the Commission changed the rules to ignore the margin of error. The poll had shown Libertarian nominee Mike Stoddard at 6.5% in the Third district race, and independent Steven Burt at 5.7% in the Fourth district race. So under the old rules, they would have qualified, but under the new rules, they don’t. As a result, all four debates (for each of the four districts) only include the Republican nominee and the Democratic nominee.
The Commission meeting that changed the rules left no publicly available documents explaining why the rules were changed. The Daily Herald, the newspaper for Provo, carries this op-ed about the Debates Commission. The author is Barry Short, the Libertarian Party state chair.
The Arkansas Libertarian Party has two U.S. House candidates, a gubernatorial candidate, and a Secretary of State candidate. All four will soon debate both their major party opponents. See this story.
In the U.S. Senate race, the Republican incumbent has declined to participate, but the Democratic and Libertarian nominees will debate each other.
On October 6, the Montana Supreme Court issued a unanimous opinion in Ellingson v State, DA25-0142. It strikes down the $3,700 filing fee for initiatives. Here is the decision.
The Court also struck down the law that says if an initiative is defeated, no similar initiative can qualify for the ballot for the next four years.
