A North Carolina State Court of Appeals will soon decide how many signatures an independent candidate needs to get on the ballot for Orange County Commissioner. The law says an independent needs 4% of the number of registered voters in the district. In Orange County, there are two rounds for County Commissioner elections. In the first round, the voters of district two are the only voters. But in the run-off, the entire county votes.

See this story. The independent candidate, Connor Fraley, argues that the 4% should be calculated on the number of registered voters in district two, not in the entire county. He lost in the lower court but is appealing.

On May 18, the Nevada Senate passed AJR 6, which is a proposed constitutional amendment that would provide for Nevada to join the National Popular Vote Plan. It had already passed the Senate, so it is now through the legislature. No gubernatorial action is needed because it is not a bill, but a proposed constitutional amendment.

If the next session of the legislature also passes it, then it would be on the ballot in November 2026.

So far the only other state in which voters have voted on the National Popular Vote Plan is Colorado, where the legislature passed the plan and then a group opposed to the idea collected the signatures to ask the voters to repeal it. But a majority of the Colorado voters voted to keep it.

On May 19, the Michigan Board of State Canvassers approved the form of the petition blanks that ask voters to put the Common Sense Party on the ballot. In Michigan, petitions to create a new party can’t start to circulate until the state clears the format of the petition.