WASHINGTON: A Minnesota Republican candidate’s bid to delay voting in his congressional race to February after the death of a third-party candidate was rejected Tuesday at the Supreme Court.
Justice Neil Gorsuch, who handles emergency requests from the federal appeals court that oversees Minnesota, denied the request from Tyler Kistner. As is typical when the court acts on an emergency basis, Gorsuch did not say anything in denying the request. But he also didn’t ask Kistner’s opponent to respond in writing or refer the question to the full court, suggesting it wasn’t a close question.
Kistner is running against Democrat Angie Craig, the incumbent, in the Nov. 3 race for Minnesotas competitive 2nd District, which stretches south from St. Paul’s suburbs.
Messages left with the Kistner and Craig campaigns were not immediately returned Tuesday.
The Craig-Kistner race was thrown into confusion after the September death of Legal Marijuana Now Party candidate Adam Weeks. Because that party has major status in Minnesota and the death was sufficiently close to the election, it triggered a state law calling for a delay until February.
But Craig won a lower-court ruling to block the delay and the election was moved back to Nov. 3. An appeals court left that decision in place, saying there are strong reasons for a uniform date for federal elections, and there must be compelling circumstances for a state to be permitted to change the date.
Kistner appealed to the Supreme Court for an emergency order putting on hold the lower court ruling. Kistners case is still active in the appeals court, but arguments wont be heard there until after the election.
Craig is expected to benefit from the high turnout on Election Day. Kistners chances may have been better in a special election, in which Republicans tend to have a greater advantage from the lower turnout.
The Minnesota law calling for an election delay following the death of a major-party candidate was passed years after Sen. Paul Wellstones died in a 2002 plane crash. Wellstone died just 11 days before the election, triggering a frenetic race in which Republican Norm Coleman defeated former Vice President Walter Mondale, who was tapped to take Wellstones place as the Democratic candidate.
Autopsy results released Tuesday by the Southern Minnesota Regional Medical Examiners Office found Weeks died of ethanol and fentanyl toxicity.
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