On Tuesday, October 27, oral arguments were held in U.S. District Court in Utah, in the Republican-Constitution Party lawsuit against the law on how parties nominate candidates. The judge said he is inclined to find the law unconstitutional. See this story. It is not clear which provision is in greater jeopardy. The two challenged procedures are: (1) forcing parties to let candidates on their primary ballot who have little support at a party caucus; (2) forcing parties to let independent voters vote in their primaries. The law says parties that don’t allow these things can still run nominees, but the nominees must petition to be on the November ballot in the same manner as independent candidates. Utah only requires 1,000 signatures for statewide independent candidates and smaller numbers of signatures for other office.

According to this story, the lawsuit filed in 2014 by the Utah Republican Party and the Utah Constitution Party will not be settled by mediation. The case is Utah Republican Party v Governor Gary Herbert, 2:14cv-876. The issues are the law that (1) requires parties to put candidates on their primary ballots even if those candidates have no support at party caucuses; require parties to let independent voters vote in their primaries. The law says parties are free to ignore both requirements, but if they do, they won’t be considered ballot-qualified and will need to put their nominees on the November ballot via independent candidate petition procedures.

The Daily Northwestern, a daily newspaper published by students at Northwestern University, has this op-ed advocating that the U.S. use proportional representation for congressional elections. The paper is considered one of the best student newspapers in the nation, and it also serves as the only daily newspaper for Evanston, Illinois.

The author only presents one type of proportional representation. Also he says constitutions would need to be changed. It may be true that some state constitutions would need amendments, but nothing in the U.S. Constitution blocks proportional representation for Congress. States are free, under the Constitution, to elect members of Congress any way they wish, as long as they are chosen by popular vote. However, a federal law mandating single-member U.S. House districts would need to be changed. A bill will be introduced in Congress to repeal that law.