Lyle Denniston writes that as early as Wednesday, February 21, Pennsylvania Republican legislative leaders will file a lawsuit in U.S. District Court, arguing that under Article One, Section Four, state courts cannot be involved in drawing U.S. House districts. See this story.
On February 19, Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin allowed HB 157 to become law, although he wouldn’t sign it. It increases the amount of money an individual may donate to a minor or unqualified party, so that now the limits are as high as the amount that may be donated to a major party. This is the first bill helping minor parties that was introduced in 2018 that has passed.
The Nebraska Senate Government, Military & Veterans Affairs Committee will hear LB 969 on Friday, February 23. It lowers the number of signatures for a non-presidential independent candidate from 10% of the number of registered voters to 4,000 signatures. That was the old law until 2016.
On February 20, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear Johnson v Commission on Presidential Debates, 17-916. The other presidential debates case, Level the Playing Field v Federal Elections Commission, is still pending in the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. A decision on that case could come at any time.
Mexico holds a presidential election on July 1, 2018. Three party nominees and three independent candidates are expected to be listed on the ballot. The three qualified parties are PAN, Morena, and PRI. See this story about the three independent candidates who qualified.
