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On November 6, the proponents of privacy for Washington state referendum petitions asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear their appeal. Here is the brief. As noted earlier, on September 10 the U.S. District Court in Washington state had ordered the Washington Secretary of State not to release the names and addresses of people who signed the R-71 petition. But on October 15, the 9th circuit had ruled that the Secretary of State could release the information. Then, on October 19, the U.S. Supreme Court had ruled 8-1 that the information should not be released, at least until the U.S. Supreme Court decided the issue of whether injunctive relief had been proper.

In the meantime, the West Virginia Supreme Court has agreed to hear another case on the same issue. A lower state court had ruled in favor of privacy for initiative petitions earlier this year, in a case from Jefferson County. That case is Shepherdstown Observer v Maghan, no. 09-c-169 in Jefferson County Circuit Court. This is a different case than the recent one in Ohio County, West Virginia, in which a lower state court had ruled that such petitions are public information. The Ohio case was decided November 5, 2009. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the news about the cert petition in Washington state.

"The White House is strongly denying a story claiming that White House officials privately threatened to retaliate against a Democratic strategist for appearing on Fox News -- a claim generating a big stir on the right as the latest example of the White House's victimization of the network," reports Greg Sargent.

Said communications adviser Dan Pfeiffer: "While we have our disagreements with FOX, administration officials appear on the network and we have no issue with others who choose to do so."

On November 3, ten Libertarian Party nominees (who were not simultaneously the nominees of any other parties) were elected to local office in Pennsylvania partisan elections. They were: Michael Robertson, Licking Township Supervisor; Bertie Etzel, Ashland Township Constable; Tim Russell, Emlenton Borough Mayor; Larry Boyle, Polk Borough Mayor; James Fryman, Victory Township Auditor; Paul Meddings and Chad Roberts, both elected to the Houston Borough council; Susan Haythornthwaite, Abbott Township Auditor; Cathy Beeman, Waterford Township Auditor; Randall Schwabenbauer, School Director, Oil City.

The full list of Libertarian candidates in this week’s election, with a note as to how each did, is here.

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Newsweek has this story, posted on November 6. It says that independent presidential candidate Marco Enriquez-Ominami could conceivably win the Presidential election coming soon in Chile. Chile has a two-party system, in which the two major parties are the Conservative Party, and the Concertaction. The Concertaction is a coalition of the Socialist Party and the Christian Democratic Party.

Chile has a two-round presidential election. If no one gets 50% in the first round, there is a run-off. One of the factors favoring the independent candidate is that he is included in presidential debates, and so far he has done well in those debates.

Rothenberg Political Report: "Bill Owens' victory in New York's 23rd was the good news for Democrats this week and continued the party's winning streak in competitive House special elections. But the dynamic that helped Owens win -- including a divided Republican Party -- can't be ignored and aren't likely to be replicated again. For now, his reelection next year is a Pure Toss-Up."

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On November 6, a U.S. District Court ruled orally that Port Chester, New York, should use Cumulative Voting for its elections for Village Trustee. In 2006, the U.S. Justice Department, Voting Rights Section, had sued to force Port Chester to stop using at-large elections for Village Trustee. Almost half the population is Hispanic, but no Hispanic had ever been able to win an election for that office.

The case is USA v Village of Port Chester, 06cv-15173. The judge’s explanation will be issued soon. Cumulative voting, used in some multi-winner elections, gives each voter multiple votes. The voter can give all his or her votes to one candidate, or spread them around to several candidates. It enables groups that are less than a majority to put all their strength behind a single candidate, and give that candidate a fair chance at winning.

Veteran's Day isn't until next week but this video of a 10 year old girl talking about her father stationed in Iraq couldn't wait.