On March 17, the Greenville County, South Carolina, Republican Party lost its lawsuit over South Carolina’s open primary.  The Fourth Circuit decision, Greenville County Republican Party Executive Committee v Greenville County Election Commission, 13-2170, is 28 pages.

The lawsuit had been filed in 2010 by the county Republican Party and also the state Republican Party.  It challenged state law that requires all parties that nominate by primary to use an open primary, in which any registered voter can participate.  The party wanted to exclude voters who are loyal to other political parties.  One weakness in the case from the beginning is that South Carolina lets parties nominate by convention instead of open primary if they wish.  However, a state law said that if a party wants to switch from an open primary to a convention, the resolution authorizing the change must be made by a vote of three-fourths of all the delegates at the state convention.  Delegates who didn’t vote because they weren’t in the room at the time, or had gone home, were automatically deemed to have voted “no.”  Therefore, the lawsuit also challenged the three-fourths law.

In 2014, the South Carolina state party withdrew from the lawsuit.  The Fourth Circuit opinion says that the Greenville County Republican Party doesn’t have standing to challenge the three-fourths law, or the state law on open primaries.  In another blow to the lawsuit, in 2014 Greenville city (which is in Greenville County) switched from having partisan elections to non-partisan city elections.  Therefore, the remaining strong complaint by the county party, that it was being forced to pay administrative costs to hold a city primary, was made moot.  The county party argued that the city might at any time switch back to having partisan elections, but the Fourth Circuit felt this is unlikely.  The Court appears not to have known that an initiative petition has been filed by some Greenville voters, and the petition has enough valid signatures, so the city will soon be voting on whether to reinstate partisan city elections.  See this story.

On March 18, the Kansas Senate Ethics & Elections Committee passed SB 239, which cancels the 2016 presidential primary.  On March 19, the Kansas House Elections Committee passed HB 2398, which completely repeals the presidential primary.

The number of states holding presidential primaries in 2016 seems likely to be fewer than the number in 2012.  The budget proposed by the Governor of Louisiana eliminates funding for the presidential primary, and the Massachusetts Secretary of State says there is no money in the budget for a presidential primary.  Kentucky Republicans will probably hold a caucus instead of a presidential primary.  Thanks to Frontloading HQ for the news about the Kansas bills.