On January 31, the Arizona Secretary of State filed this reply brief in Mecinas v Hobbs, 2:19cv-5547. This is the case filed last year by the Democratic Party, to overturn a law that says the nominees of the party that received the most votes in the last gubernatorial election (in that county) are listed first on the ballot.

The state continues to insist that all lawsuits of this type are procedurally flawed, and therefore the brief doesn’t discuss evidence. The state maintains that if partisan gerrymandering doesn’t violate the U.S. Constitution, ballot order laws that favor one particular party can’t be unconstitutional either.

According to this Politico story, some members of the Democratic National Committee want to change the rules to reduce the chances that Bernie Sanders will win the nomination.

On January 31, U.S. District Court Judge Yvette Kane issued a temporary restraining order against the Pennsylvania law that won’t let out-of-state circulators work for Democratic presidential primary candidates. However, it only applies to the plaintiffs, a paid petitioning company called Accelerate 2020 and Joe Pool. Accelerate 2020 v Boockvar, m.d., 1:20cv-128. Here is the eight-page order.

The case had been filed January 24, 2020, and a conference with the judge had been held January 30. This decision was made possible by the victory earlier this month in a similar case filed in 2016, Benezet v Cortes.