On March 31, the Eighth Circuit agreed with the U.S. District Court that Arkansas can’t stop recognizing electronic signatures on voter registration forms. Get Loud Arkansas v Jester, 24-2810. The basis is the 1964 federal Civil Rights Law, which said that voting and registration can’t be invalidated if the reason for invalidation is not “material” to an accurate and fair voting system.

The vote was 2-1. The decision was written by Judge Steven M. Colloton (a Bush Jr. appointee) and also signed by Judge Ralph R. Erickson (a Trump appointee). Judge David Stras (a Trump appointee) dissented.

Here is the decision.

On March 27, Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers signed HB 223. It outlaws out-of-state circulators for candidate petitions and recall peetitions, except that it permits them for presidential candidate petitions.

The new law is likely unconstitutional. Wisconsin is in the Seventh Circuit, and the Seventh Circuit ruled in 2000 in an Illinois case that states cannot ban out-of-state circulators.

Only two candidates filed to be on the California primary ballot for Assembly, 59th district. One is the incumbent Republican, Phillip Chen. The other is Green Party member Victor Hernandez. It is therefore extremely likely that those two will both appear on the November ballot, although conceivably a write-in candidate in the primary might qualify.

The 59th district is in northern Orange County.

Hernandez is the only minor party member this year in California who is in a two-person primary race.