As reported earlier, the U.S. Supreme Court will be hearing a case on October 8 on whether candidates have standing to challenge an Illinois election law allowing mail ballots to arrive by three weeks after election day. Bost v Illinois State Board of Elections, 24-568. The American Civil Liberties Union and the national League of Women Voters have filed an amicus curiae brief on the side of the candidates, The amicus brief argues in favor of standing. Read it here.

It is notable when the ACLU and the League of Women Voters take a position in an election law case that, from a partisan viewpoint, is on the Republican side. This case should not be a partisan case. But when one sees the list of organizations that have filed amici on either side, it is clear that it become a partisan case. The Republican National Senatorial and Congressional Committees, and the federal government, have filed on the side of the plaintiffs, i.e., on the side of recognizing standing. On the other hand, the Democratic Party of Illinois, and seventeen states with Democratic Attorneys General, have filed on the other side.

On September 2, a cert petition was filed in the U.S. Supreme Court over North Dakota legislative redistricting. Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians v Howe, 25-253. The issue is whether the federal Voting Rights Act can be enforced by private litigants, or whether only the federal government can bring a Voting Rights Act lawsuit.

After the 2020 census, the North Dakota legislature passed a redistricting plan that sharply reduced Native American representation in the legislature. The Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians sued, and the U.S. District Court found in their favor. Then the state appealed, and the Eighth Circuit rejected the case on the grounds that private groups can’t bring lawsuits under the Voting Rights Act, which is a sharp departure from the 60-year history of the act. The Eighth Circuit didn’t even reach the merits of the redistricting issue.

Here is the cert petition.

Ballotpedia has compiled the 2026 primary dates, and the deadlines for candidates to file for the primary. See it here. However, the chart only lists 38 states. Ballotpedia only shows states in which state election officials have announced these dates. It is possible to know these dates for all states by reading each state’s law, but Ballotpedia is being extra-cautious and not including states that haven’t made a public proclamation of the dates.

The Federal Election Commission also compiles these dates, but it hasn’t done so yet for the 2026 elections.