On December 26, Michigan Democratic Party activist Martha Hayes filed this strong brief in U.S. District Court, in her lawsuit to stop the Michigan Democratic presidential primary. The case is Hayes v Michigan Democratic Party and the Michigan Secretary of State, 1:07-cv-1237. The lawsuit assumes that the Democratic National Committee was within its rights to tell the Michigan Democratic Party not to hold a primary in violation of the national party rules. Therefore, the lawsuit alleges that the state Democratic Party and the state of Michigan are responsible for the inability of Michigan Democrats to elect delegates to the national convention.

This case is very similar to the Florida case called Ausman v Browning, which has a hearing in federal court in Florida on January 3. The Michigan case doesn’t have a court date yet, but such a court date will probably be set within the next 48 hours. Thanks to Thomas Jones for this news.

The voters of Santa Fe, New Mexico, will vote on March 4 on whether to amend the city charter, to use Instant-Runoff Voting for elections for city officers. The amendment would take effect in 2010 if the vote-counting machines can handle IRV by then.

New Jersey requires 1,000 signatures for a candidate to get on the Democratic or Republican presidential primary ballots. As reported earlier, six Democrats and six Republicans turned in petitions in New Jersey.

New Jersey elections officials do not check the validity of these petitions. Some of the candidates turned in just barely over 1,000 signatures. Among the Democrats, Joe Biden only turned in 1,018, and Dennis Kucinich only turned in 1,052. Among the Republicans, Fred Thompson only turned in 1,133. However, no one challenged any petition, and the challenge period is over.