A group in Massachusetts has begun the preliminary steps to circulate an initiative, for a law that would require presidential candidates to reveal their income tax returns. The group presumably will abandon its plans if the Massachusetts legislature passes the same idea. The legislature is in session and has already held a hearing on that bill, SB 365. See this story.

The initiative first needs the signatures of 2.5% of the last gubernatorial vote, which is 64,750 signatures, by December 6. Then the legislature gets some more time to consider the idea. If the legislature doesn’t pass it, then initiative proponents must get another 10,792 signatures, and if they succeed, the measure would be on the November 2018 ballot.

On the evening of September 12, the U.S. Supreme Court countermanded two rulings of lower federal courts in Texas, and said that Texas need not draw new districts in time for the 2018 election. One case involved U.S. House districts; the other state house districts. See this Scotusblog post. The vote was 5-4.

On September 13, Nebraska State Senator Bob Krist said he will run for Governor of Nebraska in 2018 on a “Unity ticket”, which seems to say he will form a new party called the Unity Party. See this story. However, his campaign says he hasn’t decided yet on which petition route he will use, new party or independent.

The new party petition route is 1% of the last gubernatorial vote, which is 4,880 signatures. The independent petition is well over 110,000 (10% of the number of registered voters in 2018), and is clearly unconstitutional.