On May 22, a Massachusetts trial court determined that the City Clerk of Quincy improperly invalidated many signatures on a local initiative. The judge ordered the petition to be re-checked, and this time, even if a signature is illegible, to try to validate the signature by using the voter’s printed name instead. As in almost all jurisdictions, Massachusetts initiative petitions have one column for the voter’s signature, and another column for that voter’s printed name. Perdios v City of Quincy, Norfolk Superior Court, 2582cv-01130.

When the petition had first been checked, the city election employees only looked at the signature column, and ignored the column that contains printed names.

On May 25, the Libertarian Party national committee disaffiliated the New Hampshire Libertarian Party. The main reason was that the New Hampshire Libertarian Party had endorsed Donald Trump for president in the 2024 election.

On May 26, a three-judge U.S. District Court panel enjoined use of the Alabama redistricting plan that the legislature passed earlier this month. Singleton v Allen, combined with Milligan v Allen, n.d., 2:21cv-1291. The decision is 102 pages and is by U.S. Court of Appeals judge Stanley Marcus, a Clinton appointee. It is also signed by U.S. District Court Judges Anna Manasco and Terry Moorer, both Trump appointees.

The order keeps the special primary set for August 11 in place, for the First, Second, Sixth and Seventh districts. That means the deadline for independent and minor party petitions will also be August 11. The order does not address the number of signatures that will be required. It says, “We expressly leave to the State’s discretion (as we must) how it addresses candidate qualification.”

The order is based on the same court’s finding several years ago that the 2023 redistricting plan, which was mirrored in this month’s plan, intentionally discriminated against Black voters and was not drawn for partisan reasons.

It will be interesting to see if the state now appeals to the U.S. Supreme Court. In the meantime, the uncertainty over the district boundaries makes a very strong case that the number of signatures, normally approximately 6,000 per district, should be reduced due to the limited time for anyone to complete a petition.