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.

On June 11, Puerto Rico votes on its future political status. During April, the Puerto Rico government added a third option, for maintaining the status quo, Commonwealth status. Originally the vote was only going to include the choice of statehood, or independence.

The Governor and Speaker of the Puerto Rico House of Representatives both strongly favor statehood. According to this story, the U.S. Justice Department required Puerto Rico to add the choice to maintain commonwealth status. Also see this story.

Here is a copy of the June 11 ballot.

The Albuquerque Journal has this article (scroll down) mentioning that the Libertarian Party will have a primary in 2018. This will be the first time that the New Mexico Libertarian Party has ever before qualified for its own primary. If the party retains that status in the November 2018 election, it will also have a primary in 2020, along with its first New Mexico presidential primary.