Professor Chia-Chi Teng, who wanted to run for U.S. House in the November 2017 special election in Utah’s Third District, was barred from the Republican primary ballot because he didn’t file in-person. He was temporarily teaching in China. He sued to overturn the law that requires filing in person (except for government employees and members of the military), but lost in the lower state court. On June 5 he said he will not appeal to the Utah Supreme Court.

However, state representative Craig Hall says he will introduce a bill next year to delete the requirement that candidates must file in-person. See this story.

This article in the Gotham Gazette predicts that very few election law bills will pass this year in the New York legislature.

On June 5, the U.S. Supreme Court summarily affirmed the lower court ruling in North Carolina v Covington, 16-649 The lower court had invalidated North Carolina’s legislative districts as an illegal racial gerrymander.

In a different phase of that same case, North Carolina v Covington, 16-1023, the U.S. Supreme Court remanded to the lower court for reconsideration of the lower court’s remedy. The lower court had said the state must redraw the districts very soon and then hold new legislative elections in 2017. The U.S. Supreme Court said that decision had not been detailed or thoughtful enough, and the U.S. Supreme Court directed the lower to again decide whether a special election is needed in 2017.