North Carolina elects all of its state legislators this year. Republicans managed to recruit someone in every district except one, the State House district, 24th district. It is too late for any new candidates to be added to the May primary ballots. So the Republican Party is backing an independent candidate in that district, Ken Fontenot.

Because the ballot access reform last year did not ease the petition requirement for independent candidates for the legislature, Fontenot needs 2,200 valid signatures, due April 23. That deadline, which was made worse by a bill that was signed into law in early 2017, is certainly unconstitutional. In 1980 North Carolina also had an April petition deadline for independent candidates, and it was struck down that year in Greaves v North Carolina State Board of Elections. The legislature then moved it to June, but in 2017, it forgot why it had done that, and moved the deadline back to April. A lawsuit is currently pending against the April deadline for independent candidates. See this story about how hard the Republican Party is working on the Fontenot petition. Thanks to Kevin Hayes for the link.

Here is the new California voter registration form. Section 8, relating to the applicant’s choice of party, is interesting.

On April 4, the Missoula County, Montana Board of Supervisors voted that every ballot-qualified party with a county structure in the county should have a representative on the county’s Election Advisory Commission. See this story.