On July 31, the Colorado Republican Party filed a federal lawsuit against the 2016 law that requires the party to let independent voters vote in its primaries, unless the party state convention votes by a 3/4ths majority to close the primary that year. Colorado Republican Party v Griswold, 1:23cv-1948. The case is assigned to U.S. District Court Judge Robert E. Blackburn, a Bush Jr appointee. Here is the 22-page Complaint.

Whether parties have a constitutional right to exclude independents from their primaries is an open issue. Republican Party lawsuits on this subject have won in Idaho, but have lost in South Carolina and Virginia. The U.S. Supreme Court already ruled in Tashjian v Republican Party of Connecticut that parties have a right to demand that independents be allowed to vote in its primaries. And in California Democratic Party v Jones, it ruled that parties have a right to exclude members of other parties from their primaries. Thanks to Mike McCorkle for the news.

On July 31, a Utah state trial court ruled in favor of keeping Celeste Maloy on the September 5 Republican primary ballot. She is running in the special congressional election to fill the vacancy in the Second District. Her ballot status was challenged on the basis that she wasn’t a registered Republican when she filed. This news story says she was not registered at all on that date.

In 1986, the U.S. Supreme Court said that if a party wishes to nominate a non-member, it has a constitutional right to do that. Utah law says no one can run in a primary who is not a registered member of that party.

This link goes to an interview with Ryan Byrne of Ballotpedia, who says that the cost of paid petitioners doubled between 2020 and 2022. Thanks to Andy Jacobs for the link.