On August 31, the Colorado Republican Party filed this amicus curiae brief in the Tenth Circuit in Baca v Williams, 18-1173. This is the case over whether presidential electors have a right to vote for anyone who meets the constitutional qualifications to be president, or whether states can force them to vote for the presidential candidate who received the most popular votes in that state.

The lawsuit had been filed in 2016 by several Democratic presidential electors, so it is somewhat odd that the Republican Party is intervening. The Republican Party supports the position of the state of Colorado. The state believes that any presidential candidate who votes for someone other than the popular vote winner thereby ceases to be an elector, even though the voters in November chose the electors.

The Los Alamos Monitor has this lengthy story about the New Mexico straight-ticket device controversy. Toward the end of the article, the story quotes New Mexico Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver as saying she researched the matter, and learned that the Michigan Supreme Court ordered the Michigan Secretary of State to put the device on the ballot. This is not true. A single U.S. District Court judge made that decision in Michigan, and the state is appealing.

The Colorado legislature has placed two ballot measures for nonpartisan redistricting commissions on the November ballot. One is for U.S. House districts, and one is for legislative districts. They require membership of four Democrats, four Republicans, and four individuals who are not members of any party. Thus the only members of the public who could not possibly serve on the commissions are members of parties other than the Democratic and Republican Parties. See this Reason.com blog post. Thanks to Walter Ziobro for the link.