On November 30, a state trial court in Tucson, Arizona, heard a case filed by two Republican nominees for city council in the 2015 election. Tucson uses partisan city elections, in which partisan primaries are held in districts to select party nominees. Then those nominees run in at-large elections in November. On November 3, Democrats won all the seats. One week later, the Ninth Circuit ruled 2-1 the Tucson system violates the 14th amendment. Now the two Republicans who carried their home districts on November 3, but not the citywide vote, argue they should be deemed the winners. See this story.

Meanwhile, the city has obtained permission to file a request for rehearing beyond the normal time limit. The rehearing request is now due December 11.

On November 25, a 3-judge U.S. District Court declined to postpone the North Carolina primary election, which will be held March 15, 2016. The postponement of the primary had been requested by the plaintiffs in Covington v State. They argue that the legislative districts are invalid. The decision says that the federal court will keep jurisdiction of the case (even though the State Supreme Court has a similar case pending), but the federal court is unwilling to disrupt the upcoming primary. Here is the decision.

Tennessee holds a presidential primary on March 1, 2016. Presidential candidates’ names appear automatically if the Secretary of State determines that they are discussed in the news media. But candidates for Delegate get on the ballot with a different procedure. For the Republican convention, anyone can appear on the ballot as a candidate for Delegate if he or she submits a petition signed by 25 voters. Any registered voter may sign; Tennessee does not have registration by party.

Candidates for delegate must say whom they are pledged to support at the convention. They certify that, if elected, they will vote for that presidential candidate on the first two rounds of voting.

Candidates for delegate to the Democratic national convention do not use this procedure; instead interested persons file with the Democratic Party, which has its own process for choosing who can run for Delegate. But Democratic candidates for Delegate also appear on the presidential primary ballot of the Democratic Party. See this story. So far, over 400 persons have filed to run for Delegate to the Republican convention. There will be 58 Republican delegates. Most of the slots are filled on a congressional district basis. The deadline for filing is December 10.