Willie Lee Wilson of Illinois was one of the candidates who sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016. He lives in Chicago and is African-American. He gained a spot on the Democratic presidential primary ballots in nine states, and tried in other states. He was handicapped in that process, and in his campaign, because the national Democratic Party told him he was not a “sanctioned” candidate. However, the party never explained its basis for that decision.

On April 19, 2017, he sued the Democratic national committee in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. The case has moved slowly. On January 2, 2018, U.S. District Court Judge Trevor McFadden, a Trump appointee, granted him permission to amend his Complaint. The original Complaint is here.

On January 12, attorneys for North Carolina government filed a brief in support of the law that abolished judicial primaries for the 2018 election. The Democratic Party had filed a lawsuit late last year, arguing that abolishing judicial primaries violates the U.S. Constitution. The case is North Carolina Democratic Party v Berger, m.d., 1:17cv-1113.

In 2012, the South Carolina Constitution was amended to provide that candidates for Governor and Lieutenant Governor should run together as a team. The change is supposed to start in 2018. However, the election law still hasn’t been amended to set forth the mechanics. This story says the bill to specify the details is bogged down because of a dispute over an unrelated part of the bill raising salaries for some elected officials.