On July 2, the Guam Election Commission voted to make no change in the type of open primary that Guam uses.  The classic open primary, in which each party has its own primary ballot and its own nominees, comes in two styles.  Some of the classic open primary jurisdictions provide that the primary voter must ask, in public view, for one particular party’s primary.  Others let the primary voter decide in secret inside the voting booth which party primary ballot to choose.

Guam will continue using the secret-open primary.  See this story.

On July 1, U.S. District Court Judge Joseph Bataillon, a Clinton appointee, refused to grant an injunction against Nebraska’s ban on out-of-state circulators.  Citizens in Charge v Gale, 4:09cv-3255.  The six-page order relies on the fact that in 2001, the 8th circuit in a North Dakota case had upheld a similar ban.

The 8th circuit is the only circuit in which any U.S. Court of Appeals has ever upheld a ban on out-of-state circulators.  The 2001 case was from North Dakota.  The other states in the 8th circuit, besides Nebraska, are South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, and Arkansas.  The latter four states do not ban out-of-state circulators.

The order also doubts that the ban actually makes it more expensive for petitions to be completed when an out-0f-state ban exists, citing the travel expenses to bring out-of-state circulators into the state.

On July 1, a state court judge in Georgia dismissed the lawsuit that had been filed by Mary Norwood, over the validity of between 8,000 and 9,000 signatures with the county name pre-printed on the petition forms.  See this story.  That does not necessarily mean that the petitions will not be counted.  It appears the judge didn’t believe the lawsuit is ripe.  It is possible that Norwood will have enough signatures even without the disputed signatures; and it is also possible that the Fulton County elections office will recognize the signatures as valid.