On May 30, the Louisiana Senate amended HB 431 so that the bill, in addition to making campaign finance changes, moves the presidential primary from mid-March to early March. If the bill is signed into law, the 2016 presidential primary will be March 5 instead of March 19. Thanks to Frontloading HQ for this news.
In the meantime, Missouri Governor Jay Nixon still hasn’t signed or vetoed SB 892, which would move the Missouri presidential primary from February to March.
On May 30, filing closed for major party primaries in Wyoming. The only person who filed for U.S. House in the Democratic primary is Richard Grayson, who lives in Apache Junction, Arizona. He is one of only two individuals in the U.S. who has ever been an Americans Elect nominee for Congress; he won the Arizona Americans Elect primary in 2012 for U.S. House, 5th district. Here is a story about the primary field in Wyoming, with a fair amount about Grayson.
No Democrat is running for Secretary of State. The two ballot-qualified minor parties in Wyoming, the Libertarian Party and the Constitution Party, need not nominate until August, and independent candidates file in August.
It seems that there are at least four individuals who have run for Congress in major party primaries this year, or who are about to, who do not live in the state in which they are running. There were a few instances in 2012 as well.
On May 29th, the Tenth Circuit set a June 30 deadline for the states of Kansas and Arizona to file their brief in Kobach v U.S. Election Assistance Commission, 14-3062. This is the case over whether those two states can force the federal government to alter the federal voter registration form that is used in those two states. The federal form asks for a signature of the voter-applicant under penalty of perjury, saying the applicant is a U.S. citizen. The two states want documentary proof. The case is being expedited so a decision is likely in the next few months. The U.S. District Court had ruled in favor of the two states.
On May 28, the plaintiff in the pending federal Michigan ballot access case, Matt Erard, filed for reconsideration in U.S. District Court. The chief issue is whether Michigan unconstitutionally discriminates against newly-qualifying parties, relative to old parties. The number of signatures required for new parties to get on the ballot is approximately twice the number of votes needed for old parties to remain on the ballot. Erard is a Socialist Party candidate, although technically the Socialist Party is not a co-plaintiff. The case is in the eastern district, 2:12cv-13627.
The request for reconsideration was made because the initial U.S. District Court decision of May 14, upholding the law, appears to have some factual errors, and also seems to overlook key precedents.
Here is an account of the first week of the trial in the state court lawsuit over Florida U.S. House redisticting. The Florida Constitution gives the legislature authority to carry out districting for U.S. House, but says the legislature must draw lines that do not help or harm any particular party. According to the article, the legislature had maintained that the boundaries for certain districts had been suggested by a particular student. But, on the stand, that individual student testified he had not suggested any district boundaries, and that the e-mail that was allegedly sent by him was not, in fact, written or sent by him.
Some attorneys for the legislature have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to block an order of the State Supreme Court that said internal communications from legislators to other legislators and consultants can be introduced into evidence. See this story. The request to the U.S. Supreme Court was made on Wednesday, May 28, and the U.S. Supreme Court hasn’t responded yet. In the U.S. Supreme Court, the case is Bainter v League of Women Voters of Florida, 13A1174.
