On October 15, the U.S. Supreme Court heard Louisiana v Callais, 24-109, the case over the federal Voting Rights Act and Louisiana’s U.S. House district boundaries. Here is the transcript. The oral argument lasted two hours and 30 minutes.
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As of October 15, U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson still has not sworn in Adelita Grijalva, who was elected to the U.S. House from Arizona’s 7th District on September 23. The Secretary of State of Arizona certified the election returns on October 15. Johnson says he won’t swear her in because the House is not in session. However, earlier this year he sworn in three newly-elected members while the House was not in session.
The Attorney General of Arizona is preparing a lawsuit against the Speaker.
On October 14, the Wisconsin legislature passed two bills that make minor improvements for independent candidates and minor parties. AB 149 makes it easier for qualified parties to nominate candidates for presidential elector. Existing law said that qualified parties could only nominate presidential elector candidates by a meeting of their legislators, or their nominees for state legislature. The bill says a party can also nominate presidential elector candidates with a meeting of the state committee.
AB 35 says independent candidates for federal and state office may withdraw.
In less than a month, Missouri opponents of U.S. House redistricting have collected half the signatures they need to force a referendum on the bill that changes the districts. The campaign has until December to finish the petition. The effort has 3,100 volunteer petitioners. Assuming enough signatures are collected, the new law can’t go into effect until after the voters vote on the bill. Therefore, the bill would not be in effect for the 2026 election, and the old district boundaries would be used.
On October 10, the Orange County Register, one of California’s largest newspapers, carried this op-ed by Duane Roberts. It explains and advocates for proportional representation.