On June 28, the Nevada Supreme Court dismissed a challenge to the top-five ballot initiative. Even though the petition had not yet been submitted, opponents had charged it does not qualify for the ballot because it violates the single-subject rule. It eliminates party nominees (except for president), and says all candidates run in the primary. Then, the top five candidates run in the general election, using ranked-choice voting.

Here is the opinion in Helton v Nevada Voters First PAC, 84110. The vote was 4-3.

The initiative proponents have just recently finished the drive. Assuming it has enough valid signatures, it will appear on the November 2022 ballot. If it passes, under a unique Nevada constitutional provision, it can’t take effect unless it passes a second time in 2024.

Unfortunately, the measure makes it more difficult for a party to remain ballot-qualified. Currently parties remain on the ballot either if they poll 1% of the statewide vote for any race (statewide or not), or if they have registration equal to 1%. Of the two vote tests, the first one is far easier. But the initiative eliminates the vote test, except for President. Thanks to Fairvote for this news.

On June 28, the U.S. Supreme Court voted 6-3 to allow Louisiana to keep the U.S. House districts the legislature had drawn earlier this year. Ardoin v Robinson, A21814. The Court also accepted the case for a full review in the next session.

On June 24, Republican candidate James Judge, running for U.S. House, was removed from the primary ballot for filing the wrong form. There are separate forms for federal candidates, versus state and local candidates, to affirm that they support the U.S. Constitution, although the wording of the oath is identical for both. Judge used the state/local form. He filed a week before the deadline and the state accepted his paperwork, without telling him until it was too late that he had used the wrong form.

On June 27, he filed a lawsuit in state court to reverse the decision. See this story.