The Republican Party of South Carolina filed a lawsuit in 2010 against state laws that virtually force it to nominate using an open primary. The case has not yet had a decision in U.S. District Court. One reason for the delay is that the Republican Party has had trouble getting the evidence it needs from the state. The Republican Party hopes to show that various Democratic activists have been voting in Republican Party primaries, but the state has not furnished the data that would show this. Although voting is secret, the list of which primaries various voters choose to vote in is not secret.

There will be a hearing in the case on Wednesday, April 17, at 1:30 p.m., over the dispute about gathering the evidence. The Republican Party has a pending motion asking for sanctions against the state for not producing the requested evidence. The case is South Carolina Republican Party v State of South Carolina, 6:10cv-1407.

Jerry Goldfeder, one of the leading experts on New York election law, has this column in CityLand, advocating improvements in New York state election law. He calls for easier ballot access. He also calls for easing the restrictive law that does not permit voters to change parties within eleven months of a primary. This is by far the most restrictive such law in the nation.

Unfortunately, Goldfeder did not call for improving New York ballot format. New York has the nation’s most confusing ballot, followed closely by the ballot used in most counties in New Jersey. Both New York and New Jersey ballots hide “unimportant” candidates in far corners of the ballot, where many voters don’t even notice their names. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.

California State Senator Ricardo Lara (D-Bell Gardens) will not attempt to advance SCA 12 and SB 712 this year. This is the proposed constitutional amendment and bill to make it more difficult for write-in candidates in a partisan primary to advance to the general election. Current law says whoever comes in second in the June primary for Congress and state office advances to the November ballot. The bill would have said if the person who comes in second is a write-in in the June primary, he or she can’t appear on the November ballot unless the candidate polled a very large number of write-in votes.