On April 19, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear Thompson v DeWine, 20-1072. This is the case in which initiative proponents had asked the government of Ohio for some petitioning relief during the health crisis. The U.S. District Court had granted it, but the Sixth Circuit had then reversed that.

The South Jersey Times published an editorial on April 13, deploring the fact that so many candidates are being challenged off primary ballots in New Jersey this year. New Jersey elects is Governor and most of its legislators this year. See the editorial here. It also criticizes New Jersey ballot design.

The South Jersey Times is a daily print newspaper covering all counties in the southern end of New Jersey.

As already reported, on March 29, 2021, two important ballot access cases were won in federal court, in Michigan and Georgia. In Illinois and Maine, there are pending ballot access cases in U.S. District Court; and in Arkansas, there is one in the U.S. Court of Appeals. Attorneys for the plaintiffs in Arkansas, Illinois, and Maine promptly informed the judges in those states about the Georgia and Michigan decisions. So far, attorneys for state governments in Arkansas, Illinois and Maine have not filed their own briefs commenting on these new precedents, even though court rules permit them to do so.

The Arkansas, Illinois, and Maine decisions could come out at any time. The Illinois case, filed in 2016, challenges the 5% petitions for independent candidates for U.S. House. The Maine case, filed in 2019 by the Libertarian Party, challenges several ballot access laws relating to new or small parties. The Arkansas case, filed in 2019, challenges the procedures for non-presidential independent candidates.