On January 18, the 7th circuit issued a 12-page opinion in Segovia v U.S., 16-4240. The plaintiffs are U.S. citizens who live in Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, or Guam. They cannot vote absentee in Illinois elections, even though they formerly were residents of Illinois and had been voting there. U.S. law says if they had moved out of Illinois into a foreign country, or American Samoa, or the Northern Mariana Islands, then they could continue to vote absentee in Illinois elections. But both Illinois law and federal law say they can’t continue to vote absentee in Illinois elections if they live in Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, or Guam.

The decision says that Illinois law doesn’t violate equal protection. The reason Illinois law treats residents of American Samoa and the Northern Mariana Islands differently is because it is an old law, written when the Northern Mariana Islands was a United Nations trusteeship instead of a true U.S. possession. The plaintiffs are very likely to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, which, for decades now, has rejected all cases involving voting rights for citizens who live in U.S. possessions.

The opinion is by Judge Daniel Manion, a Reagan appointee; and signed by Judges Ilana Rovner, a Bush Sr. appointee, and David Hamilton, an Obama appointee.

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s campaign says 1,500,000 signatures have been gathered to put him on the ballot as an independent candidate. The petition drive started January 5, 2018, and needed 300,000 signatures. The election is March 18. See this story.

Another candidate, Grigory Yavlinsky, says he has collected the needed 100,000 signatures to run. Russia requires 300,000 signatures for independent candidates, but 100,000 signatures for nominees of parties that don’t have any representatives in the national legislative body. Parties that do have such representatives do not need any signatures. See this story about Yavlinsky.

Out of the 100 U.S. Senators, currently 14 were elected with a number of votes that was less than 50% of the total vote cast for Senate. Dr. Eric Ostermeier calculates this is the largest number of such Senators since immediately after the 1996 election. See his analysis here.