According to the Associated Press, the Kansas Supreme Court has sent a lawsuit attempting to force Democrats to name a new U.S. Senate nominee for the November ballot to a district court.
The petition filed last week by  Democratic voter David Orel, of Kansas City, Kansas, didn’t contain enough evidence to make legal decisions, so the high court sent the case to Shawnee County District Court, according to the AP.
This was all triggered by Democrat Chad Taylor’s withdrawal from the race against Republican Sen. Pat Roberts. It was seen as helping Independent Greg Orman’s chances of winning.
Orel filed the petition minutes after the Supreme Court removed Taylor from the Nov. 4 ballot. Orel’s son works on Republican Gov. Sam Brownback’s re-election campaign.
The district court is the appropriate place for this type of thing and the Kansas Supreme made the right decision.
On a side note, it would also be interesting to see David Orel’s voting history and how long he has been a Democrat.
All of these challenges really affect Secretary of State Kris Kobach more so than Orman. Kobach has endangered his own job by his decision to challenge Taylor’s removal from the ballot in the first place.
Because Kobach is a member of Robert’s steering committee, he probably ought to have recused himself from any decision anyway.
The Supreme Court made a good decision to allow Taylor’s withdrawal. Kobach has accepted a lesser standard of ballot withdrawal, including that of Miranda Rickel, a House candidate who withdrew from a race in House District 5. She stated on her withdrawal letter that it would be nearly impossible to mount a campaign with juggling jobs and college classes.
It made it nearly impossible to mount a campaign, she said.
It is impossible to know whose idea it was to fight Taylor’s removal. It could even have come at the national level by senators determined to keep Roberts in office, but the public may never know.
The shenanigans are getting old. Let Orman and Roberts run on their own merits.