On December 29, officers of the North Carolina Green Party presented the State Board of Elections with evidence that the party meets the new definition of “political party”. The evidence consists of proof that Jill Stein was on the ballot in at least 35 states in 2016.

An employee of the State Board of Elections said that this evidence cannot now be accepted, because the State Board technically now has no members, and therefore it doesn’t exist. The State Board’s web page says that all the member slots are “vacant.” This is because in 2017 the state legislature passed a bill changing the makeup of the State Board, and Democratic Governor Roy Cooper sued to invalidate the new law. The lawsuit, Cooper v Berger, 52PA17-2, is pending in the State Supreme Court (the lower state court had rejected the lawsuit). Until it is settled, the employees of the Board maintain that there is no Board.

On December 27, five Michigan voters filed a lawsuit against the Governor, to force him to call a special election sooner than November 2018 to fill the vacancy in the 13th U.S. House district. See this Courthouse News Story. The district currently has no representative because Congressman John Conyers resigned last month.

The case is Rhodes v Snyder, e.d., 2:17cv-14186. It is assigned to Judge Mark A. Goldsmith, an Obama appointee. Thanks to Thomas Jones for this news.

On December 29, the Commonwealth Court issued a 139-page Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law, finding that Pennsylvania’s U.S. House districts do not comprise an unconstitutional partisan gerrymander. The decision says there is no way to draw a line between a plan that is constitutional and a plan that is unconstitutional. The decision cites past U.S. Supreme Court decisions on this subject, which will probably be obsolete when new decisions are released in the coming weeks or months. Thanks to How Appealing for the link. The case is League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania v Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, 261 MD 2017.