On September 15, the Fourth Circuit heard oral argument in Hogarth v Bell, 26-1328. This is the case challenging North Carolina’s law that makes it a crime for a voter to take a picture of his or her voted ballot. Here is a link to a recording of the argument. The three judges were A. Marvin Quattlebaum, Allison Rushing, and DeAndrea Benjamin.
The U.S. District Court had upheld the law. The plaintiff is Susan Hogarth, an activist in the Libertarian Party.
Here is a sample ballot for Washington, D.C., for the November 2026 election.
As usual this year, most New Jersey counties use party-column ballots, but never give party columns to any parties other than the Democratic and Republican Parties. See this Atlantic County ballot.
New Jersey lets each county choose its own ballot format, and a few counties use office-group ballots, which are the standard in 45 other states.
New Hampshire is one of only five states that still uses a party-column ballot. New Hampshire persistently refuses to give any parties other than the Republican and Democratic Parties their own column. Instead, it always has an “Other candidates” column. This year that column has both Constitution Party and Libertarian Party nominees. See it here.
The other states that still cling to party-column ballots are New York, Connecticut, Delaware, and most counties in New Jersey.
The American Center Party is on the Illinois ballot for U.S. Senate. Its nominee for that office is Whitfield Harrington, Jr. If he polls 5%, his party will be ballot-qualified for statewide office in 2028. Here is the website.
This is the first time a party organized in just Illinois has appeared on a statewide ballot in Illinois since 1986, when Adlai E. Stevenson III created the Illinois Solidarity Party.
