On January 22, the Oklahoma Attorney General issued his first opinion of the year. See it here. It says that the 2016 petitions of the Libertarian and Green Parties need signatures of 3% of the last gubernatorial vote, not 5%. This conclusion is not surprising. But the Oklahoma Election Board had asked for this ruling. When the party filed its notice to qualify as a party by petitioning, back in early 2015, the law still required 5%. Shortly afterwards, the law was eased to 3%. The opinion says it doesn’t matter what the law was when the party filed its notice; what counts is the law in effect when the petition is submitted.

U.S. District Court Judge Andre Birotte will hold a hearing in Soltysik v Padilla on Monday, March 14, at 10 a.m., in Los Angeles. This is the case on whether California’s law on partisan labels on ballots is unconstitutional. The plaintiffs are registered Socialists, but if they run for partisan office, the ballot says “Party preference: none” next to their names. They want a label that says, “Party preference: Socialist.”

On January 20, U.S. District Court Judge William Haynes set a trial date in two pending Tennessee ballot access cases. The trial date is Tuesday, February 23, 9 a.m., in Nashville. The trial combines the 2011 case that challenges the number of signatures needed for a newly-qualifying party, and the 2014 case on how a party remains on the ballot. The only undecided issue from the 2014 case is whether the ruling (which put the Constitution and Green Parties on the 2014 ballot) should also apply to put those two parties on the 2016 ballot.

The 2011 case over the number of signatures has been won twice in U.S. District Court, but each time the Sixth Circuit then said the case needs more evidence.