On February 16, the voter rights organizations who had sued North Carolina over its U.S. House district boundaries filed this reply brief in the U.S. Supreme Court. The briefs on whether the lower court ruling should be stayed are now all complete, and the U.S. Supreme Court should rule very soon on whether the 2016 election should use the old districts, or districts that have yet to be drawn. If the stay is denied, there will almost certainly need to be a second primary in North Carolina this year, one for U.S. House, held after the new districts are in place. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.

According to this story, tens of thousands of Florida voters have recently switched from being independents, to being registered Republicans or Democrats, so that they can vote in the March presidential primaries. February 16 is the deadline for registration for those primaries.

On Tuesday, February 16, a North Carolina Superior Court in Raleigh hears the lawsuit that argues that a 2015 bill, setting up procedures for judicial retention elections for State Supreme Court Justices, violates the State Constitution. The Constitution requires actual elections for judicial posts. See this story.