On January 10, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear Libertarian Party of Minnesota v Simon, 21-834. Minnesota law requires petitions for independent candidates, and petitions for the nominees of unqualified parties, to carry this wording: “I do not intend to vote at the primary election for the office for which this nomination petition is made.”

The U.S. District Court had upheld this wording, pointing out that the petitioner is free to tell the potential signer that nothing in the language presents the signer from changing his or her mind later, and therefore the statement on the petition is not a severe burden. The Eighth Circuit had issued a non-published short opinion, agreeing with the U.S. District Court. Here is a copy of the cert petition.

On January 8, New York city Mayor Eric Adams said he supports the idea of letting non-citizens vote for New York city office. This is an extremely strong signal that he will sign the bill that passed the city council last month. See this story. Even if he doesn’t sign the bill, if he doesn’t veto it either, it becomes law. The deadline is the end of the day, Sunday, January 9.

On December 6, the Texas Supreme Court issued a 15-page opinion in Re Ranya Khanoyan, 21-1111. The plaintiffs charged that the new Harris County Commission redistricting plan is a partisan gerrymander, planned to help Democrats. The Court said the case was filed too late. It notes that the redistricting plan was passed on October 28, 2021, but the lawsuit against that plan was not filed until November 16, 2021.

Another issue in the case was whether the State Constitution requires that every voter be permitted to vote for County Commissioner at least once every four years. Because county commissioners have 4-year terms, and the elections are staggered, there are some voters who could not vote for County Commissioner in 2020 (because they lived in a district that wasn’t up that year). But now those same voters live in a district in which that district won’t be up in 2022 either, due to boundary changes. The court said that could be adjudicated in the future, and also suggested that the legislature and the voters consider amending the Texas constitution to provide that in the election following redistricting, all districts should have elections, some for 2-year terms and others for 4-year terms.