On November 1, the Maine Libertarian Party filed a lawsuit in federal court against the law that requires a new party to qualify by January of the election year. The lawsuit also challenges the state policy of erasing all of a party’s registered members when the party goes off the ballot. The case number is not yet assigned, but the case is Baines v Dunlap.

In 2016, when the deadline for a new party to qualify was in December of the year before the election, a U.S. District Court enjoined that deadline. In response, the legislature then moved the deadline only one month. New parties qualify by persuading at least 5,000 voters to register into the party.

New Statesman has now published the second installment of political scientist Corbin Duncan’s analysis of primaries. This episode presents evidence that political parties choose better nominees in the absence of primaries. He discusses the United States and also the United Kingdom.

Here is a link to Duncan’s article from last week.

On November 1, U.S. District Court Judge Daniel P. Jordan, a Bush Jr. appointee, issued a 15-page opinion that says it is virtually certain that Mississippi cannot continue to require that winners of statewide state elections not only receive the most votes, but must carry a majority of State House districts. Leslie-Burl McLemore v Hosemann, s.d., 3:19cv-383. However, the judge declined to enjoin the system. He wrote that it is not obvious how the system should be altered. Currently if someone gets the most popular votes, but doesn’t carry the most state house districts, the State House chooses the winner from among the two people who got the most popular votes.

Mississippi elects all its statewide state offices in the odd years before presidential election years. The Mississippi gubernatorial election is November 5, 2019, less than a week away. The provision has been in the State Constitution for over a century yet has never affected any gubernatorial election outcome. Theoretically, it might in the upcoming election. The case had been filed on May 30, 2019. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.