In September 2020, the Legal Marijuana Now Party submitted a petition in Nebraska to become a qualified party. The state still hasn’t finished checking the signatures. Assuming the party has enough valid signatures, it will be added as a choice on the voter registration forms. Currently the only qualified parties in Nebraska are Republican, Democratic, and Libertarian. No one can register into a party in Nebraska that has never been a qualified party.
There appear to be at least three pending cases in the U.S. Supreme Court that were filed by President Trump or his supporters, concerning vote-counting.
Two are from Wisconsin. Trump v Biden, 20-882, was filed December 29 and appeals a decision of the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Trump v Wisconsin Election Commission, 20-883, was filed December 30 and appeals a decision of the Seventh Circuit.
One is from Georgia: Lin Wood v Raffensperger, 20-887, was filed December 30. The plaintiff, attorney Lin Wood, claims standing because Wood is a Georgia voter. It argues that Georgia treated postal voters better than in-person voters.
If anyone knows of other such cases, please comment. So far the U.S. Supreme Court has not acted on any of these three.
On January 4, initiative proponents asked a U.S. District Court in Montana to reconsider its earlier opinion upholding the ban on out-of-state circulators for initiatives. See their filing here. Pierce v Stapleton, 6:18cv-63.
At the November 2020 election, Green Party nominee K. Frederick Horch polled 48.06% of the vote for Maine State House, 49th district. He was in a two-person race against a Democrat. This is the closest the Green Party has come to electing a state legislator since 2012, when it elected Fred Smith in Arkansas. However, Smith was the only candidate whose name was on the ballot. Setting that 2012 Arkansas race aside, the most recent instance when a Green Party legislative nominee came close to winning was in 2010, when Massachusetts Green Party nominee Mark C. Miller polled 45.02% in a two-person race.
Maine does not use ranked choice voting for state office in general elections.
On Saturday evening, January 2, the Fifth Circuit issued a one-page opinion in Gohmert v Pence, 21-40001. They agreed with the U.S. District Court that the plaintiffs, Congressman Louie Gohmert and the Arizona Republican presidential elector candidates, lack standing to challenge the constitutionality of the 1887 electoral vote act. The appeal had been filed very early in the day on January 2, so this is a rare case of a lawsuit appeal filed and decided on the same day.
The three judges were Patrick Higginbotham and Jerry E. Smith (Reagan appointees), and Andrew Oldham (a Trump appointee).
