North Carolina will probably hold a new election for the U.S. House, 9th district, soon.  The original election lacks credibility because it appears that 800 absentee ballots were in the hands of a partisan individual who was not legally permitted to have custody of the ballots.

A bill in the legislature had a provision for a new primary election as well, but that part of the bill was deleted on December 12.  Therefore, the same three party nominees will again run against each other in the new election.  They are Republican Mark Harris, Democrat Dan McCready, and Libertarian Jeff Scott.

Also on December 12, a North Carolina state court extended the life of the State Board of Elections to December 28, on the assumption that the legislature will soon pass a bill re-constituting the Board.  The existing Board’s composition was ruled invalid earlier, but the state court wants to give the legislature more time to re-do the board.

On December 13, the North Dakota Republican Party state committee will vote on whether to endorse the idea of ending the open primary for itself.  See this story.

Thank you to the several hundred people who have contributed to the Coalition for Free & Open Elections (COFOE) over the years.  COFOE is a loose coalition of most of the nation’s nationally-organized minor parties, and some allied organizations.  Recently COFOE sent $1,000 to a volunteer lobbyist for better ballot access in Alabama, and $1,000 to a volunteer in Georgia.  They will use the money to help pay their expenses as they spend time working to get better ballot access bills introduced in those states.