On the afternoon of Monday, March 19, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously rejected the Republican legislative leaders’ request for a stay on using the new districts. Thanks to Rick Hasen for this news.
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Political scientist Seth Masket in this article defends closed primaries. The article is unusually useful because he was already in an on-line twitter debate, so he includes the points raised by opponents of closed primaries, and then he reacts to each one.
On March 19, the 3-judge U.S. District Court in Pennsylvania hearing the U.S. House redistricting case ruled that the Republican legislative leaders who filed the case do not have standing. Therefore, their case is dismissed, and the new districts will be in force. Here is the 24-page ruling in Corman v Torres, m.d., 1:18cv-443. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.
The Federal Election Commission moved over the weekend of March 17-18, from its old offices at 999 E Street NW, Washington DC, to 1050 First Street NE, Washington DC. The Commission is still settling in as of March 19, and is not answering phone calls.
It is believed that the long-delayed print book of election returns, Federal Elections 2016, is now in print. The book contains election returns for all federal offices in 2016, both primary and general. It is free, and very accurate and complete, especially for the presidential election. To request a copy, call 800-424-9530, and choose option #2. However, it is not worth while phoning on Monday, March 19.
This Sacramento Bee story says some well-funded Democratic interest groups are considering campaigning against some Democratic candidates for U.S. House in California, to lessen the chances that the top-two system will cause a complete absence of Democrats on the November ballot in some districts. Their fear is that too many Democratic candidates on the primary ballot means Democratic voters will split the vote, and put two Republicans on the November ballot. Thanks to California Politico for the link.
UPDATE: see this parallel story in the Los Angeles Times, which has more details. Thanks to Rick Hasen for that link.