Utah holds a special election for U.S. House, 3rd district, on November 7, 2017. On June 21, the United Utah Party, a new centrist party that submitted its party petition last month, sued the state elections office because that office says the United Utah Party can’t nominate anyone for that election. United Utah Party v Cox, 2:17cv-655. It is assigned to Judge David Nuffer, who has experience with Utah election law, because he is the judge who handled the Republican Party’s lawsuit against the state law that lets candidates petition onto a primary ballot (the Republican Party only wants candidates in its primary who enjoy substantial support at a party endorsement meeting). Judge Nuffer ruled against the Republican Party in that case. UPDATE: see this news story.

The state says the United Utah Party is too new to nominate anyone in the November 2017 election, even though the only member of the party who wants the 2017 congressional nomination, Jim Bennett, filed a declaration of candidacy by the legal deadline in May. The state hasn’t finished checking the party’s petition, and in the meantime refuses to let anyone from that party file because the state feels the party still isn’t in existence.