On June 28, the Eleventh Circuit said it wants oral argument in Hall v Merrill, 16-16766. This is the case on whether Alabama can require petitions of 3% of the last gubernatorial vote, for independent candidates and newly-qualifying parties, in special elections. Last year the U.S. District Court had ruled that because the petitioning time is so short in special elections, the state can’t require such a high number of signatures. The state then filed a notice of appeal to the Eleventh Circuit. Briefs are already submitted.

The Ninth Circuit has told attorneys on both sides in Independent Party v Padilla that it wishes to hold oral argument in October. The exact date of the hearing will be determined after the attorneys let the court clerk know their availability. The case is 16-15895. The lawsuit challenges the California Secretary of State’s determination that the Independent Party cannot register itself as a political body, because the name is too similar to the already-existing California party called the American Independent Party.

Because the Secretary of State has never accepted the Independent Party’s political body status, no one knows how many registered voters the Independent Party has. If it has as many as approximately 65,000, then it would qualify as a political party.

Ballot-qualified parties named the Independent Party exist, or have existed sometime in the last 40 years, in Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Louisiana, Maryland, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, South Carolina, and Utah.

On June 28, the North Carolina House Elections Committee passed SB 656, the ballot access bill. The House will probably vote on it on Wednesday afternoon, June 28. The Committee amended the bill for petitions for newly-qualifying parties, from 10,000 signatures, to one-fourth of 1% of the last gubernatorial vote, which would be 11,778 signatures for 2018 and 2020. North Carolina gubernatorial elections are held in presidential years. Thanks to Kevin Hayes for this news.