On Saturday, September 1, supporters of the Michigan straight-ticket device filed this brief in the Sixth Circuit, explaining why the Sixth Circuit should not disturb the U.S. District Court ruling that leaves it on the ballot for 2018.
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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The state legislature had repealed the device in 2016, but it has continued to appear on general election ballots because U.S. District Court Judge Gershwin Drain believes that removing the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 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.
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.
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.