On May 17, attorneys for Maine filed this 24-page brief in Maine Republican Party v Dunlap, 1:18cv-179. The lawsuit had been filed earlier this month by the Republican Party, which argued that its freedom of association rights means that the party ought to be free to avoid using ranked choice voting.

The Maine government brief notes that the Republican Party uses a form of ranked choice voting at state conventions, to choose party officers. See page 10. The government brief also has a scholarly footnote 7, mentioning instances from approximately 100 years ago when states required parties to use ranked choice voting in their primaries.

On May 7, the city council of St. Louis Park, Minnesota, voted to use ranked choice voting for the city’s elections, starting in 2019. St. Louis Park has a population of 45,000 and is near Minneapolis.

On May 17, Kent Bernbeck, a Nebraska political activist who has long worked to ease restrictions on initiatives, said he will be an independent candidate for Treasurer this year and that he will soon file a federal lawsuit to overturn the law (passed in 2016) that requires him to collect 10% of the registered voters, in order to get on the ballot. See this story.