North Dakota Legislative Redistricting Case Filed in U.S. Supreme Court

Posted on by September 8, 2025
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On September 2, a cert petition was filed in the U.S. Supreme Court over North Dakota legislative redistricting. Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians v Howe, 25-253. The issue is whether the federal Voting Rights Act can be enforced by private litigants, or whether only the federal government can bring a Voting Rights Act lawsuit.

After the 2020 census, the North Dakota legislature passed a redistricting plan that sharply reduced Native American representation in the legislature. The Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians sued, and the U.S. District Court found in their favor. Then the state appealed, and the Eighth Circuit rejected the case on the grounds that private groups can’t bring lawsuits under the Voting Rights Act, which is a sharp departure from the 60-year history of the act. The Eighth Circuit didn’t even reach the merits of the redistricting issue.

Here is the cert petition.

Ballotpedia Shows 2026 Primary Dates, and Deadlines for Filing for Primaries

Posted on by September 5, 2025
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Ballotpedia has compiled the 2026 primary dates, and the deadlines for candidates to file for the primary. See it here. However, the chart only lists 38 states. Ballotpedia only shows states in which state election officials have announced these dates. It is possible to know these dates for all states by reading each state’s law, but Ballotpedia is being extra-cautious and not including states that haven’t made a public proclamation of the dates.

The Federal Election Commission also compiles these dates, but it hasn’t done so yet for the 2026 elections.

Ohio Legislature Likely to Consider Closed Primary Bill

Posted on by September 5, 2025
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When the Ohio legislature re-convenes later this month, it is likely to consider HB 320, a bill with twenty-one Republican House sponsors. The bill would establish registration by party, and provide that only voters who had been registered members of a party for at least 90 days could vote in partisan primaries.

The bill is flawed because it doesn’t have provision for a party to tell the state that it wants independent voters to be able to vote in its primaries. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Tashjian v Republican Party of Connecticut that states must give parties the freedom to make this decision.

However, if the bill passes, it would help independent candidates. Current Ohio law is hopelessly arbitrary as to who can qualify as an independent candidate. State courts routinely adjudicate cases every year over whether an independent candidate is too closely associated with a qualified party to be allowed to run. They delve into which meetings the candidate has attended, the political activity of the candidate’s spouse, and other personal matters. But if the bill passed, anyone who is a registered independent would be considered legally an independent, regardless of how they behaved politically. The Ohio League of Women Voters supports the part of the bill that sets up registration by party, but it opposes the part of the bill that creates closed primaries.

The bill says the voter registration form would list the qualified parties and show a check-box for each. It also says there would be a blank line on the form for a voter to write in a party that is not listed. But election officials would treat members of unqualified parties as though they were independents.

North Carolina Minor Party Activists Delay Implementation of New Regulations that Would Hamper Petitioning

Posted on by September 5, 2025
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The North Carolina State Board of Elections has promulgated some regulations that would make it more difficult for parties to petition for ballot access. They include a rule saying the circulator must orally tell everyone he or she approaches what the goals of the party are, and a rule forcing all circulators to be publicly identified.

Under North Carolina law, if at least ten adult residents object to new election regulations, the regulations can’t take effect until they are examined by the state legislature. Duruing the last week in August, thirteen qualified individuals submitted objection letters. Most of the objectors are from the Constitution Party, but a member of the Socialist Party, a Liberetarian, and several Greens, also objected.

Even if the new regulations are finally implemented, the pending Cornel West ballot access lawsuit will amend the Complaint so as to challenge the new regulations.