Former Governor Martin O’Malley is dropping out of the Democratic presidential race. See this story.
Former Governor Mike Huckabee is dropping out of the Republican race. See this story.
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On February 1, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to block the Virginia U.S. House redistricting plan drawn up by a three-judge U.S. District Court last year. See this Roll Call story. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.
It is theoretically possible that the U.S. Supreme Court could invalidate those districts later, but after the February 1 action, it seems extremely unlikely the U.S. Supreme Court would do that.
Here is a link to the independent presidential candidate debate held on January 28, 2016, in Lake Charles, Louisiana. The participants, in seating order (right to left) were Terry Wheelock, Rhett Smith, Val Kittington, Robert Dionisio, John Fitzgerald Johnson, Verone Thomas, Dr. Lynn Kahn, Chris Keniston, and Sedinam K. C. M. Curry. The debate was three hours. The two participants on the left end were accidentally out of range of the camera, but they can be heard.
On February 1, this cert petition was filed in the U.S. Supreme Court in Tuaua v U.S.A., the case over whether persons born in American Samoa should be considered U.S. citizens as a matter of constitutional law. The lower federal courts in Washington, D.C., had ruled that the 14th amendment does not guarantee automatic citizenship for persons born in U.S. territories. Persons born in the other U.S. territories are citizens, but that is because Congress passed a law saying they are. But Congress has never done that for persons born in American Samoa. Thanks to HowAppealing for the link.
The California Secretary of State expects to release the January 2016 registration tally on Friday, February 5. This tally has legal significance because it reveals whether any new parties have qualified. However, it seems obvious that no new parties have qualified. There is a second California registration deadline, on July 11, for parties that just want to be qualified in 2016 for purposes of placing a presidential nominee on the November ballot. Any new parties that meet that July 11 deadline would also be qualified for the 2018 election.
The March 1, 2016 print issue of Ballot Access News will have a chart, showing the number of registered voters in each state, in each party.
The Secretary of State’s January 2016 tally won’t include any data for the Independent Party, which applied in March 2015 to obtain a tally. The Secretary of State refuses to ask the counties to tally the number of registered voters in the Independent Party, because the Secretary says the name is too similar to the name of the American Independent Party. However, the Secretary of State let Americans Elect qualify as a party in 2011, and has permitted the Independent California Party to ask for a tally.
The Secretary of State’s January 2016 tally won’t include the Reform Party tally either, because the Reform Party didn’t ask by the January 4, 2016 deadline, although it has since asked to be tallied. After the January tally, the next tally will be in April 2016.