On August 17, the Minnesota Supreme Court released its opinion in Moulton v Simon, A16-0925. The issue was whether Daniel Moulton should be on the primary ballot as a candidate for Judge, Third Judicial District, seat 16. Election officials rejected his application because he did not “attach” a copy of his current attorney license. But the State Supreme Court said the law only requires that a candidate “provide” a copy of the license. Moulton had showed his license to the elections office when he filed, and the decision says that was good enough. A regulation said the license should be attached but the Court said the regulation can’t require more than the statute requires.

Although the opinion was released after the primary was over, the Court had earlier issued a one-sentence order putting him on the ballot, and only on August 17 explained why. Moulton did not win the non-partisan primary; he placed third in a three-candidate field.

Dallas Woodhouse, executive director of the North Carolina Republican Party, recently e-mailed Republican members of county election boards, and urged them to eliminate early voting on Sundays. The state recently lost a lawsuit over early voting in general. The Fourth Circuit opinion ordered the state to reinstate the generous early voting period, and the state is trying to persuade the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse that. But even if the U.S. Supreme Court declines to reverse the Fourth Circuit, county boards are still free to eliminate Sunday early voting if they wish.

However, data has shown that early voting on Sunday is disproportionately used by African American voters. Churches frequently organize car pools for early voting, following church service. The publicity about Woodhouse’s e-mail, trying to stop Sunday early voting, will harm the state’s chances of persuading the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse the Fourth Circuit. The Fourth Circuit had found that Republicans in the North Carolina legislature changed many voting laws in 2013 in order to injure African Americans, and the recent e-mail from Woodhouse only appears to bolster that conclusion. See this story. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link. UPDATE: the U.S. Supreme Court case is North Carolina v North Carolina State Conference of the NAACP, 16A168. Chief Justice John Roberts has asked the NAACP to file a response by August 25 at 4 p.m.