JP Election Brief: Primary results and voting lawsuits

June 14, 2012

by: the State Court Staff

Every Thursday, Judgepedia's State Court Staff examines events in the world of judicial elections across the nation. Make sure to use Judgepedia's Election Central the rest of the week as a hub for all your judicial election needs.

Highlight a Race

Three move on from Montana's Supreme Court Primary

June 5th marked the beginning of the race for the Montana Supreme Court, with a race for each Department 5 and 6. In the first race [[Brian Morris]] was to defend his incumbency in Department 5 while attorney Hertha L. Lund challenged it. However, in April, Lund withdrew early from the race, saying "At this point, with respect to both my family life and my law practice, I would not be able to devote the proper time and energy I feel it would take to run a successful statewide race." Technically unopposed in the primary election, but with a challenger still on the ballot, Judge [[Brian Morris|Morris]] earned 72.29% of the vote. Unless a write-in candidate mounts an opposition, Morris will be re-elected in the November general election.

The second contested race involved three non-incumbents running for retiring Judge James Nelson's position in Department 6. Attorney Ed Sheehy, Attorney Laurie McKinnon, and Judge Elizabeth Best competed in the primary election. Sheehy and McKinnon came out on top in the race earning 34.21% and 33.49% of the vote while Judge Best earned only 31.99%, eliminating her from the general election.

In the News

Nevada primary election results

The results are in from Tuesday's judicial primary in Nevada, and they are no surprise: in the only judicial races on the ballot, three incumbent district court judges successfully held on to their positions after running unopposed for re-election.

Judge Egan Walker was re-elected to his position on the Family Division of the Second Judicial District Court. He was originally appointed to a partial six-year term by Governor Brian Sandoval in March 2011. Judge Walker had to run for election to be able to finish his current term, which will end in 2014, at which point he must run for a new six-year term if he wishes to continue serving.

Two judges kept their positions on the Fourth Judicial District Court. Judge Nancy Porter, who serves Department 1, was re-elected to her current position after running unopposed. She was appointed to the district court by Governor Sandoval in December 2011. Judge Alvin R. Kacin, appointed at the same time as Judge Porter, was also re-elected to his position on Fourth Judicial District Court, Department 2. Both judges' terms will end in 2014.

Stay tuned for information about judicial candidates on the ballot in Nevada's general election in November!

North Dakota primary election results

Thirteen District Court judges were re-elected without opposition this week in North Dakota. They are:

• Northwest District

Todd Cresap

Richard L. Hagar

William W. McLees, Jr.

• Northeast District

M. Richard Geiger

John T. McClintock, Jr.

• Northeast Central District

Karen K. Braaten

• East Central District

John C. Irby

Lisa Fair McEvers

• Southeast District

John E. Greenwood

Thomas Merrick

• South Central District

Bruce B. Haskell

Bruce A. Romanick

• Southwest Judicial District

Zane Anderson

Two contested races also took place, with one new judge elected and two candidates advancing to the general election. In the Southeast District, challenger Brad Cruff won election to the court. He will unseat incumbent Richard W. Grosz on January 1, 2013.

In the Southwest Judicial District, Dann Greenwood and Tom M. Henning will advance to the general election to compete for the seat of retiring Judge H. Patrick Weir.

Election procedure news

Judicial watchdog files suit against Indiana

Judicial Watch, a conservative, national public interest group, in cooperation with True the Vote, has filed a lawsuit against the state of Indiana. The lawsuit, filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana in Marion County, was filed because there are more voters on the roles than eligible voters in twelve Indiana counties.

The lawsuit alleges that Indiana is not in compliance with the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA). Specifically, section 8 of the NVRA is mentioned in the suit; this part of the NVRA requires the maintenance of voter rolls and the availability of documents relating to their upkeep. In February, Judicial Watch requested documents relating to list maintenance, but none have been provided by the state.

This is not the first time Indiana election officials have run afoul of the NVRA. In 2006 the federal government sued the state to force compliance with the Act.

Florida sued for controversial voter purge

The state of Florida has been attempting to clean up its list of registered voters and remove those who may be ineligible or non-citizens. This resulted in a lawsuit filed in federal court on June 8 by a Hispanic civic organization and two naturalized citizens (backed by the American Civil Liberties Union and others).The plaintiffs argue that the process is eliminating the rights of American citizens. The lawsuit points to the 1965 Voting Rights Act and claims that the procedures the state is using to weed out potentially ineligible votes have not been cleared by the U.S. Justice Department. In fact, the Justice Department, on May 31st of this year, wrote in a letter to Florida officials that the voter purge violates federal law. The state says it disagrees.

A list of 2,600 voters was sent to local election officials earlier this year for their review. Many have been confirmed as eligible. The result of the lawsuit, however, should not directly affect the upcoming elections, since most election supervisors have already stopped removing voters due to the conflict between the federal and state governments.

Chris Cate, spokesman for the Florida Department of State, explained, "We have a year-round responsibility to ensure that the votes of U.S. citizens aren't diminished by the votes of non-citizens, and we take this responsibility very seriously."

Howard Simon, executive director of the ACLU of Florida, argued, "The illegal program to purge eligible voters uses inaccurate information to remove eligible citizens from the voter rolls."

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