On August 23, the New York State Board of Elections sued the Independence Party, charging that the party’s campaign account that is shared with various Democratic State Senators is an illegal campaign account.  See this story.  Parties can receive higher contributions in New York than candidates can.  The Independence Party set up a fund jointly with the conservative-leaning Democratic State Senators who always vote to keep the State Senate under Republican control.  See this story.  The State Board says that is not permitted.

In other Independence Party news from New York, on August 24 the Independence Party won a lawsuit in the Appellate Division, fourth district, to validate its nominees in Erie County.  The dispute was whether the party’s executive committee or the state committee had authority to give permission for various major party candidates to receive the Independence Party nomination.  A majority of the justices held that the party had properly authorized its executive committee to make that decision.  Lavell v Baker, 17-01444.  Here is the decision.  Thanks to Joe Burns for the link.

The North Carolina legislature will convene at 1 p.m. on Monday, August 28, to continue working on redistricting.  Afterwards, it is hoped that the legislature will work on other bills, including the ballot access bill that has passed both houses, but still needs action from its conference committee because the two versions in each house differ.

The bill to redraw State House districts is HB 927.  It hasn’t passed either House but will received a vote in the House on Monday, August 28.  The bill to redraw State Senate districts is SB 691.  It passed the Senate on Friday, August 25, by 27-16.

Here is a link to legislative webpage that has details about redistricting.

This article by Axios founder Mike Allen says that Governor John Kasich of Ohio, a Republican, and Governor John Hickenlooper of Colorado, a Democrat, could conceivably be an independent ticket in 2020 for president and vice-president.

Axios is a new on-line news source.  Allen was formerly Politico’s chief White House correspondent.

It would be ironic if Kasich were to become an independent candidate, because no public official has done more to harm ballot access in the last three years than he has.  His attorneys in 2014 spent approximately $700,000 to keep the Ohio Libertarian candidate for Governor off the Libertarian primary ballot.  They succeeded, and established an Ohio precedent that candidates can be kept off the ballot if their circulators fail to list their employers on the petition forms, even though that had not been policy before 2014.  Thanks to Political Wire for the link.