On April 2, the Fourth Circuit issued this opinion in North Carolina Democratic Party v Berger, 18-1150. The North Carolina legislature last year cancelled primaries for 2018 partisan judicial elections, and said all candidates for judge would only run in November. The Democratic Party sued last year, and won an injunction in U.S. District Court early this year, saying the suspension of judicial primaries for statewide judicial races likely violated the U.S. Constitution. But on February 9, 2018, the Fourth Circuit stayed that order. The Fourth Circuit has now explained why it did so.

The Fourth Circuit feels that the state has an interest in consistency, and that because there were not going to be primaries for local judicial races, it would confuse the voters if there were primaries for statewide judicial elections. The vote for the April 2 opinion is 3-0, whereas on February 9 it had been 2-1. Judge Diana Gribbon Motz, who changed her vote, explained in the April 2 opinion why she changed her mind. Back in February the only individuals defending the 2017 state law were state legislative leaders, but later, the state itself had associated itself with the arguments of the legislative leaders, and that made a difference to Judge Motz. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.

On the evening of April 2, the Montana Democratic Party and others filed a state lawsuit against the Secretary of State, saying the Secretary of State erroneously determined that the Green Party petition had enough valid signatures. The complaint does not claim the party lacks at least 5,000 signatures. But the law also says that the party must have had approximately 135 signatures in each of one-third of the 100 state house districts, and that the party is short in four districts. See this story.

Ironically, if the petition is found to be invalid, the Green Party would have a strong claim that the March petition deadline for new parties is unconstitutionally early. Petition deadlines for new parties that are as early as March have been held unconstitutional in Alabama (1991), Alaska (1990), Arkansas (1977), Idaho (1984), Maine (1984), Maryland (1978), Massachusetts (1984), Nevada (1986), New Jersey (1997), New Mexico (2012), Pennsylvania (1984), South Dakota (2018), Tennessee (2010), and Wyoming (1984).

Most states in the United States do not permit two parties to jointly nominate the same candidate and have both party labels on the ballot. But Mexico is permitting two parties, PAN and PRD, to jointly nominate Ricardo Anaya for president. Four candidates are on the ballot. The election is July 1.

Polls show that Andrew Manuel Lopez Obrador is leading. He is the nominee of a party, Morena (National Regeneration Movement) that has never before won the presidency or a plurality in the Mexican national legislature, and which was founded in 2014. Anaya is second. Jose Antonio Meade, nominee of the PRI (the party that won most elections in the last century) is third. Independent candidate Margaritz Zavala is fourth. See this story.