On March 6, the Puerto Rican Democratic Party central committee voted to hold a presidential primary. This will be Puerto Rico’s Democratic presidential primary since 1984. The Republicans last had a presidential primary in 1996. Both major parties used caucuses in Puerto Rico in 2000 and 2004.

The date is Sunday, June 1. The Democratic Party felt that it had no choice in the matter. Interest is so high, officials felt the meeting places for caucuses would be impossibly crowded.

News articles do not say who will be paying for this primary. Presumably it will be the Democratic Party, not the government of Puerto Rico.

On March 7, Socialist Party presidential candidate Brian Moore filed a lawsuit in federal court against an Ohio restriction on petitioning. Moore v Brunner, case number not known yet. The lawsuit attacks an Ohio law that makes it illegal for someone who is not a registered voter in Ohio, to circulate for an independent candidate.

Ralph Nader had filed a similar lawsuit in 2004, but the federal courts in Ohio refused to adjudicate the issue for his lawsuit, since the 2004 judges believed that Nader had used out-of-state petitioners, in defiance of the law. Moore won’t have that problem, since he hasn’t started petitioning in Ohio.

Ohio law, taken as a whole, is irrational. It is legal for out-of-staters to circulate a new party petition in Ohio, so there can’t possibly be any defense for imposing residency rules for circulators for independent candidates. Furthermore, Ohio even forces the independent candidate circulators not only to be residents, but to be registered voters in Ohio. In 1999 the U.S. Supreme Court had struck down laws requiring circulators to be registered voters.