On June 1, U.S. District Court Joe Heaton issued an opinion in Jones v Stitt, w.d., 5:22cv-278. The issue is Oklahoma’s special election for U.S. Senate that the Governor has called for November 7, 2022, for the Class II seat. That seat is not currently empty. But U.S. Senator James Inhofe, who holds the seat, says he will retire in January 2023. The court ruled that Senator Inhofe’s promise to retire in January 2023 means the seat is effectively vacant starting in January 2023, and therefore the Governor is within his rights to call the special election, which will be held November 2022. Thanks to ElectionLawBlog for the link.

This means that Oklahoma will have two U.S. Senate elections this November.

On June 10, the Wisconsin Elections Commission kept Tim Michels on the Republican primary ballot as a gubernatorial candidate. See this story. His primary petition had been challenged because about half the petition sheets didn’t have his complete address printed on them.

On June 13, the challengers said they would not sue to reverse the decision.

In 2020, the Green Party’s presidential and vice-presidential candidates were kept off the Wisconsin general election ballot because some of their petitions had an outdated address for the vice-presidential nominee.

On June 13, U.S. District Court Judge Mark A. Goldsmith issued an order in Johnson v Michigan Board of State Canvassers, e.d., 2:22cv-11232. He refused to order the state to print Perry Johnson’s name on the Republican gubernatorial primary ballot. The primary is August 2. The state had kept him off after determining that he didn’t have enough valid signatures. See the order here.

James Craig, another Republican gubernatorial candidate who failed to get on the ballot, is launching a write-in campaign. The primary is August 2.