On June 5, the North Carolina legislature passed HB 222, which (assuming it is signed by the Governor) will end most elections for Supreme Court Justice. The bill says that if a member of the State Supreme Court who has already been elected at least once desires to continue to serve another term, he can inform state officials in the year preceding the expiration of his or her term that he wants a retention election. Then, instead of facing an opponent, he or she would simply be listed on the ballot, with the voters permitted to vote “yes” or “no” on whether to retain that judge.

Here is the text of the bill. Justices who were appointed and never elected would not be eligible for retention elections. Under the current law, State Supreme Court justices run in non-partisan elections every time their term expires.

At the beginning of the 2015 session, there were proposals to convert State Supreme Court elections to partisan elections, but that idea did not pass.

On June 3, Independentvoting.org and its attorney, Harry Kresky, asked the Federal Election Commission to issue a new rule about general election presidential debates. Like the earlier request by Level the Playing Field, the request for a new rule seeks to expand entry into those debates. However, the IndependentVoting request points out flaws in the proposal submitted some months ago by Level the Playing Field. Here is the IndependentVoting submission.

On June 3, the Michigan legislature passed SB 329, which (assuming the Governor signs it) allows late-filing candidates for Flint Mayor and City Council to appear on the August 2015 non-partisan ballot. See this story.