Daniel Dale of CNN has written this article, giving precedents on which presidential candidates receive Secret Service protection, and when in the election cycle they receive such protection.
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On July 18, Illinois settled the lawsuit Illinois Conservative Union v State, n.d., 1:20cv-05542. The case had been filed in 2020 by a civic group, which wanted the list of registered voters to study whether the list is accurate. The state refused, citing a law that said the list could only be released to political committees or governmental bodies. The lawsuit depended on the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, which guarantees greater access to lists of registered voters.
The state finally decided that it could not defend its policy, and will release the list to the Illinois Conservative Union.
A three-judge U.S. District Court will hold a hearing in Singleton v Allen, n.d., 2:21cv-1291, on Monday, July 31. This is the case over Alabama U.S. House district boundaries. The Alabama legislature recently enacted a new plan, but only one of the seven U.S. House districts has a Black majority. The legislature appears to have flouted the U.S. Supreme Court’s opinion in Singleton v Allen, issued last month.
Here is the plaintiffs’ brief, explaining why the state’s new plan still violates the Voting Rights Act.
On July 28, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette published this editorial, asking the legislature to pass the bill that moves the 2024 primary (for all office) from April to March.
On July 25, the Ohio Secretary of State announced the results of checking two statewide initiative petitions that are expected to be on the November 7, 2023 ballot. The initiative dealing with abortion has 495,938 valid signatures, easily enough to qualify.
The initiative to legalize marijuana was 679 signatures short, but existing law says the proponents have ten days to get those extra signatures.
There is a ballot measure on the ballot on August 8, 2023, put on the ballot by the legislature. It makes it more difficult to qualify an initiative. It requires signatures in all 88 counties, and it deletes the provision for a 10-day make-up period if the initial filing is shy of enough valid signatures. Polls show that the August 8 ballot question is likely to be defeated.
The Ohio Secretary of State still hasn’t finished checking the No Labels Party petition, even though the bulk of the signatures were submitted over six months ago. But the Secretary’s excuse is that the party is aiming for the 2024 ballot, not the 2023 ballot.