See this newspaper story about the Montana trial over whether the Green Party’s petition in Montana has enough valid signatures. The trial did not finish on Tuesday, and will continue next week. Meanwhile the primary is June 5.
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On April 25, Texas Governor Greg Abbott called a special election for U.S. House, 27th district, to replace Congressman Blake Farenthold, who resigned April 6.
All candidates qualify by filing fee, which is due April 27. Texas special elections do not have party nominees, although party labels are printed on the ballot. The election will be June 30. IF no one gets 50%, there will be a runoff sometime in September. Thanks to Tony Roza for this news.
New Jersey is the newest state to have automatic voter registration, which is a system in which every adult citizen known by the government to exist is automatically registered, unless the individual declines. The New Jersey bill, AB 2014, was signed on April 17.
The other states are Alaska, California, Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and West Virginia; also the District of Columbia has it. Petition validity is significantly higher in states with automatic voter registration.
On April 18, the California Senate Judiciary Committee passed SB 1394, which makes it illegal for anyone to pay initiative petition circulators, except on an hourly wage basis. The bill even blocks paying a bonus to high producers. The bill now goes to the Senate Appropriations Committee.
On April 24, the U.S. Supreme Court heard Abbott v Perez, 17-586, the Texas racial gerrymandering case. This article describes the hearing, which mostly focused on procedure, and whether the Court even has jurisdiction. Battles over Texas redistricting have been going on in federal court since 2011.
UPDATE: here is the oral argument transcript.