According to this story, on March 31 the Tennessee Senate State & Local Goverenment Committee passed SB 777. It coverts Tennessee primaries from open to closed. The legislature’s website does not have the text of the bill yet.
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On April 1, some Florida voting rights groups filed a federal lawsuit against the new law that requires voter registration applicants to furnish documentary oroof of citizenship. Unidosus v Byrd, s.d., 1:26cv-22257. Here is the Complaint. The case is assigned to U.S. District Court Judge Jacqueline Becerra, a Biden appointee.
On March 31, the New York Public Financing Campaign Board disqualified Bruce Blakeman’s application for public funding. He is the likely Republican nominee for Governor. Blakeman’s application didn’t list his Lieutenant Governor running mate. See this story.
On April 1, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court will hear In the Matter of Request for Opinion of the Justices, OJ-26-1. This is a lawsuit over whether it is possible for the legislature to pass a law that makes ranked choice voting conform to the state Constitution, for general elections for state office. Currently Maine uses ranked choice voting for primaries, and for general elections for federal office. But a 2017 opinion of the Supreme Judicial Court makes it impossible to use ranked choice voting for general elections for state office. The leaders of the legislature filed this lawsuit, hoping to reverse the 2017 opinion. Here is the brief of the legislature leaders.
The SF Bay View, a newspaper in San Francisco that has existed since 1976, has endorsed Butch Ware for California Governor, even though he is not on the ballot. He will be a declared write-in candidate, so write-ins for him will be tallied. See the endorsement here.