National Public Radio has this story about the Constitution Party qualifying for the North Carolina ballot for 2018 and 2020. The title to the story has an abbreviation “ENC” which means “Eastern North Carolina.”
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On June 7, the Michigan State Court of Appeals ruled that an initiative to set up an independent redistricting commisison must be put on the November ballot. Citizens Protecting Michigan’s Constitution v Secretary of State, 343517. The state government had refused to certify the initiative, even though it had enough valid signatures, because the state government believed the initiative is a revision of the State Constitution instead of just an amendment. But the Court rejected that theory. This has been a long legal struggle; the initiative petition had been submitted last year.
If the measure passes, the redistricting commission will consist of 4 Democrats, 4 Republicans, and 5 individuals who are not affiliated with either of those two parties. Michigan doesn’t have registration by party, so “affiliation” is somewhat hazy and will depend on how applicants define themselves, and what can be learned about their political behavior. Thanks to Thomas Jones for the link.
Ontario held an election for its provincial legislature on June 7. The results: Progressive Conservative 76 seats, New Democrat 40 seats, Liberal 7 seats, Green Party one seat. This is the first time the Green Party has elected a provincial legislator in Ontario. Here is the wikipedia page about the election.
U.S. District Court Judge Nancy Torresen, an Obama appointee, will hear Alexander v Dunlap, 1:18cv-220, on Friday, June 8, at 2 p.m. This is the case in which Max Linn, a candidate in the Maine Republican primary for U.S. Senate, hopes to obtain an order letting his votes be counted. He is already on the ballot. After the towns checked his petitions and determined he had enough valid signatures, the Maine Secretary of State reversed that finding. But, by then, Linn’s name was already on the primary ballots. The Secretary of State ordered that signs be posted in each polling place, saying votes for Linn won’t be counted.
Vernon Robinson, a former member of the Winston-Salem, North Carolina, city council, has changed his registration from Republican to Constitution. See this story. Robinson has been a Republican nominee for congress and one of the statewide state offices, and he was co-chair of the national Draft Ben Carson campaign in 2016.