On August 22, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court issued this opinion, explaining why it kept Cheri Honkala, the Green Party nominee, off the ballot in the special legislative election held March 21, 2017.  Green Party of Pennsylvania v Department of State, 11 MAP 2017.

Four justices signed the majority opinion.  Justice Debra Todd didn’t sign the majority opinion, but she concurred in the result.  Two justices dissented.  Here is the dissent.  Both dissenters are Democrats.

Cheri Honkala had filed her nomination certificate one day late, but received misinformation, and sued, arguing estoppel.

On August 24, the 3-judge court that earlier struck down Texas U.S. House district boundaries ruled that the new districts must be drawn in time for the 2018 election.  Because Texas has a March primary, that may require the legislature to come into special session this year.  The case is Perez v Abbott, w.d., SA-11-cv-360.  Here is the decision.  Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.

Two previously-introduced election law bills in the California legislature have been amended to change the rules for recall petitions.  See this story.  The authors of the bills, AB 132 and SB 117, are Democrats who hope to prevent the recall of State Senator Josh Newman.  The recall petition already has enough valid signatures, but the bills would let voters remove their names from the recall petition.

The State Court of Appeals in Sacramento already invalidated another such bill, SB 96, in the lawsuit Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association v Padilla.  That decision said SB 96 is invalid (at least as to the recall provisions) because the State Constitution requires that all bills have only a single subject, and SB 96 was a budget bill.

Assuming AB 132 or SB 117 are signed into law, there is still a very strong legal case against them, because courts have ruled that it violates due process to stiffen ballot access rules right in the middle of a petition drive.  This instance is even worse, because the petition is already submitted and verified.  Thanks to Jim Riley for the link.