On February 19, the North Carolina legislature passed HB 2 (in the Special Legislative session). It says that unless the U.S. Supreme Court stays the February 5 order of a 3-judge court by early March, the state will hold a primary for U.S. House (but no other office) on June 7. It also says that the votes cast for U.S. House in the March 15 primary will not be counted, and the results will remain forever secret. Presumably there will be notices at all polling places telling votes not to bother voting for U.S. House in the March 15 primary, because those votes won’t count.

The bill also says that the State Board of Elections is empowered to issue special regulations. The bill does not say anything about independent candidates, but the Board may possibly issue regulations giving independent candidates for U.S. House more time. The current independent candidate petition deadline for all office now is June 9. It doesn’t seem fair to require independent candidates for U.S. House to collect the almost 20,000 signatures needed for U.S. House in the period from late February to June 9. That petition requirement is so stringent, no independent candidate for U.S. House has ever appeared on a government-printed North Carolina ballot, and that is true even though normally independent candidates may take years to finish the petition. Obviously no independent petition could have been circulating this year before the district boundaries were known.

HB 2 says candidates for U.S. House may file for the Democratic, Republican and Libertarian primaries by March 25. Candidates who already filed may obtain a refund of their filing fee, but of course when they file again, they will need to pay that fee again.