On March 5, seven New Jersey voters filed a lawsuit in federal court, arguing that the New Jersey Constitution is violated when taxpayers pay for partisan primaries. Four of the voters are independents, one is a Democrat, and two are Republicans. The case is Balsam v Guadagno, 2:14cv-01388. It was assigned to U.S. District Court Judge Stanley Chesler, a Bush Jr. appointee. Here is the Complaint.

New Jersey lets independents vote in partisan primaries, but on primary day, if they ask for a major party primary ballot, they are then listed as major party members, and they must fill out a new voter registration form to regain their independent status. The plaintiffs who are registered Republican and Democrats say they only registered into the major parties so as to be able to vote in primaries, but they would rather not be members of those parties.

This Bay State Banner story lists and explains ten lawsuits, in five states, in which plaintiffs are arguing that the state or jurisdiction intentionally discriminated against ethnic and racial minority voters, and therefore the little-used Section 3 of the Voting Rights Act applies. The cases are pending in Texas, North Carolina, and jurisdictions within Louisiana, Alaska, and Montana. Section 3 says that regardless of whether an area is covered by the formula in section 4 (which no longer exists, due to a U.S. Supreme Court decision in 2013), the state or jurisdiction that discriminates intentionally is subject to preclearance, for certain kinds of election law changes.

The Nation has this interview with U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont). Sanders says he is thinking about running for president and if he did run, he has not decided whether he would run independently of the Democratic Party, or participate in the Democratic Party presidential primaries. Thanks to PoliticalWire for the link.