The No Labels Party of Arizona, which is ballot-qualified, is asking its members whether the party should change its name. Voting is still underway, but the name “Arizona Independent Party” is leading.
Other states that have had a ballot-qualified party named “Independent Party” have been Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Louisiana, Maryland, North Carolina, Oregon, South Carolina, and Utah.
On September 12, the Missouri legislature passed HB 1, the bill to change the boundaries of U.S. House districts. Also on September 12, some Kansas City voters filed a lawsuit in state court, alleging that the new boundaries, and the very process of redrawing them in the middle of the decade, violates the Missouri Constitution. Wise v State of Missouri, Circuit Court, Jackson County, 2516-cv29597.
It’s possible that the referendum process might be used against the new districts, although that takes a difficult petition.
On September 12, the Missouri legislature passed HJR3. It would amend the Constitution to say that a constitutional initiative can’t pass unless it receives a majority in all of the U.S. House districts. Now it will go on the ballot.
On September 3, the U.S. Supreme Court asked the Republican National Committee and the Mississippi Libertarian Party to respond to the state’s Reply brief in Watson v Republican National Committee, 24-1260. This case involves the Mississippi law that says absentee postal ballots are valid if they arrive in the elections administration office by three days after election day. The Fifth Circuit, in a surprise ruling, had said that the 1872 federal law telling states to hold congressional elections in the first week of November actually means that all ballots must be in the hands of the election office by the end of election day.
If the Fifth Circuit is correct, that means that the laws of 48 states are invalid.
Generally, when a case is filed in the U.S. Supreme Court, asking the court to hear the case, there are never more than three rounds of briefs. First the losing side in the lower court asks the Court to hear the case. Then, sometimes, the side that won the case in the court below responds. Then, commonly, there is a Reply brief, and that is the end until the Court decides whether to hear the case or not. But in this case, the Court, having read three sets of briefs, wants a Reply to the Reply Brief. That is due October 3.
On September 11, independent candidate Jim Walden lost his lawsuit to remove himself from the Mayoral ballot. See this story.
