On February 1, Nebraska State Senator Bob Krist filed a federal lawsuit against the 2016 Nebraska law that raised the number of signatures for a non-presidential independent candidate from 4,000 signatures (for statewide office) to 10% of the number of registered voters. Krist v Gale. Krist is an independent candidate for Governor this year.

The lawsuit also challenges the old law that says independent candidates cannot be called “independent” on the ballot. Instead they have “by petition” printed on the ballot. UPDATE: here is the Complaint. Krist v Gale, 8:18cv-39. The case is assigned to Judge Joseph Bataillon, a Clinton appointee who had a previous case concerning the county distribution requirement for initiatives. He declared the county distribution requirement unconstitutional, but later the Eighth Circuit reversed him by saying the plaintiffs didn’t have standing.

On January 30, the South Dakota passed HB 1012 unanimously. It says a party only needs to pass the vote test every four years. Current law requires it to pass the vote test every two years.