On August 30, the Michigan Secretary of State asked the Sixth Circuit to stay the U.S. District Court’s order that puts the straight-ticket device on the ballot for the November 2018 election. Here is the brief. The case number is 18-1910.

The state legislature had repealed the device in 2016, but it has continued to appear on general election ballots because U.S. District Court Judge Gershwin Drain believes that removing the device injures African-American voters.

In 2016, the state had also asked the Sixth Circuit for a stay, and the Sixth Circuit had not granted a stay. However, in 2016, its order hinted that the Sixth Circuit judges weren’t really persuaded that the existence of the straight-ticket device violates the U.S. Constitution.

On August 31, the plaintiffs who sued North Carolina over the U.S. House redistricting plan asked the court not to change the old unconstitutional districts until after the 2018 election is over. See their document here in Common Cause v Rucho. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link. The plaintiffs also ask the court to appoint a special master to draw new districts for 2020.

California is the only state that prints the occupation of each candidate on the ballot for all partisan office except President. On August 30, Congressman Jeff Denham won a lawsuit that argued his label of “farmer” is not true and should not be on the ballot next to his name. But the basis for his court victory was that the people who brought the lawsuit were not able to hand-deliver notification to him that he was being sued. The people who brought the lawsuit say he deliberately evaded the process server, both in Washington, D.C., and in his home district. See this story.