The Albuquerque Journal has this mention of the lawsuit Parker v Duran, which challenges the need for independent candidates to submit a petition of 3% of the last gubernatorial vote, when the nominees of minor parties need 1%, and members of major parties need an even smaller number of signatures to get on a primary ballot. The lawsuit was filed July 3.

New Mexico is tied with Montana and Alabama for having the nation’s highest percentage of signatures needed for independent candidates for non-presidential statewide office. New Mexico and Alabama are at 3% of the last gubernatorial vote, and Montana is at 5% of the winning candidate’s vote, which is approximately the same.

UPDATE: here is a more comprehensive story from the Associated Press.

On July 3, the Hawaii Democratic Party filed this reply brief in Democratic Party of Hawaii v Nago, in the Ninth Circuit. The issue originally was whether the party has a right to close its primary to just members. On appeal, the issue is whether the Hawaii law, telling all qualified parties that they must have open primaries, is unconstitutional on its face, or just as applied to parties that don’t want an open primary. The reply brief deals with that issue.

Unlike most legal briefs, it has relatively little reference to precedents, and instead depends on logic, and examples, to make its points. The brief has a very interesting analogy to a hypothetical law establishing one particular religion as a state religion. Even if you don’t normally read briefs, consider reading this one.

South Carolina held partisan primaries on June 10. At these primaries, the state tested a new type of government photo-ID law, in which anyone without an ID is still permitted to vote if the individual explains why he or she was unable to produce an ID. According to this story, no voter anywhere in the state was turned away from voting.