On February 24, Texas told the Supreme Court that it doesn’t plan to file a response in Miller v Nelson, 24-854, the Texas ballot access case.
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On February 20, the New Jersey Senate State Government Committee passed S4142, which change primary ballot access to an office-group format. The bill has many features that drew opposition. See this story.
On February 21, Pennsylvania filed this brief in West v Pennsylvania Department of State, w.d., 2:24cv-1349. The issue is the discriminatory law that requires petitioning presidential candidates to file sworn declarations of candidacy for each presidential elector candidate, and also requires a full slate of presidential elector candidates. However, parties that have registration membership of 15% of the state total need not file any declarations for any of their elector candidates.
The state makes no defense of its policy. Its brief only sets out procedural reasons why the case cannot continue, such as mootness and the Eleventh Amendment.
Rhode Island Representative Brian Newberry (R-North Smithfield) has introduced HB 5520, to divide Rhode Island into four equal-population districts. Each “presidential elector district” would elect one presidential elector.
This is different than the Nebraska and Maine systems, in which there are two at-large electors and one each for U.S. House district. Rhode Island only has two U.S. House districts.
On February 24, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear Upstate Jobs Party v Kosinski, 24-503, a lawsuit challenging the New York law that lets individuals give more campaign contributions to nominees of qualified parties than to independent candidates and the nominees of unqualified parties.