The Utah Green Party is mostly finished with its party petition, and expects to submit the petition during July. This will be the first time the Green Party has been a qualified party in Utah since 2012.

Only one statewide race is on the ballot in Utah in 2018, U.S. Senate. This means the party must poll 2% for that office in 2018, or it won’t remain on the ballot for 2020. Utah elects all its statewide state offices in presidential years. If a party gets 2% for a statewide office, it remains on the ballot for the next two elections, so generally it is better strategy for a newly-qualifying party to qualify during a presidential year, when it is far easier to poll 2% for one of the five or six races up. However, the Green Party didn’t petition in Utah in 2016; instead it put Jill Stein on the ballot as an independent candidate.

On June 15, some Democratic voters in Pennsylvania, plus the League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania, filed a lawsuit in state court, alleging that the U.S. House districts in Pennsylvania since 2011 constitute an unconstitutional partisan gerrymander. The case is based on both the U.S. constitution and the Pennsylvania constitution. League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania v Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Commonwealth Court. Here is the Complaint. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.

On June 14, the California Assembly Elections Committee passed SB 568 by 4-1. It moves the primary for all office, in presidential years, from June to March. If enacted, it would mean that no one could get on the November ballot for Congress or state partisan office unless he or she filed in the year before the election. The California Secretary of State, Alex Padilla, testified in favor of the bill. But he did not focus attention on the part of the bill that affects congressional and state office elections. Court precedents are unanimous that states cannot close off all routes to the November ballot with a filing deadline that early. When California had a March primary for all office in the past, that was at a time when it was still possible for independent candidates to petition onto the November ballot as late as mid-August of the election year.

It seems clear that the bill will pass the Assembly, because the Assembly this year already passed a similar bill, AB 84. The only difference between AB 84 and SB 568 is that SB 568 calls for a primary in late March, with the provision that the Governor has the power to move it to an earlier date (but not to a later date). AB 84 sets the primary in early March but has no provision for the Governor to shift the date.