The U.S. Supreme Court will hold a conference on Monday, September 24, to decide which cases to hear in the upcoming term. Among the cases to be considered on that day are the Washington State Democratic and Libertarian Party cert petitions in the case over the top-two open primary law. The Court may possibly reveal on Friday, September 28, what it has decided; or it may reveal this on Monday, October 1; or it may be undecided and then set an additional conference date in October. Sometimes the Court thinks about a particular case for three or four conferences before it decided whether to take a case.

On July 5, Civitas Institute released a poll for the North Carolina gubernatorial election, showing Libertarian Barbara Howe at 7%. See the details here. If Howe gets 7% in the election itself, that will be the highest percentage for any North Carolina gubernatorial candidate who was not the Republican or Democratic nominee, since 1912. In 1912, the Progressive Party nominee for Governor of North Carolina, Iredell Meares, polled 20.4% of the vote, placing second ahead of the Republican nominee, Thomas Settle, who got 17.9%.

The Grassroots Party will place a presidential ticket on the ballot this year, in Minnesota and possibly other states. The presidential candidate is Jim Carlson of Duluth, Minnesota; the vice-presidential candidate is George McMahon of Iowa.

The Grassroots Party also entered the presidential elections of 1988, 1992, 1996, and 2000. The party wants to legalize marijuana. Thanks to Oliver Steinberg for this news. The Grassroots Party this year also has a candidate for U.S. Senate on the Minnesota ballot. That candidate is Tim Davis.