On June 11, a Kansas state trial court said that the lawsuit Miller v Schwab, Shawnee County District Court 5N2026cv-510, was filed prematurly. The judge said the lawsuit should have been filed after the Kansas Board of Objections had ruled on the issue. The Board of Objections will decide on Friday, June 12.

The issue is whether the Secretary of State was empowered to declare that the 2024 officers of the No Labels Party, rather than the 2026 officers, have the authority to make decisions for the party. The 2024 officers want to dissolve the party. The 2026 officers, who were chosen at a party meeting earlier this year, want it to carry on and run candidates for office this year. See this story.

On June 11, a New Jersey administrative law judge recommended that Libertarian candidate Lana Leguia off the ballot for US House. All sides agree that she has enough valid signatures, but some of her signatures were collected by out-of-state petitioners. However, the Secretary of State is still free to overrule the administrative law judge. The Secretary of State has made no final decision yet.

The case is New Jersey Republican State Committee v Leguia, OALSTE 9209-26. Here is the decision.

The administrative law judge says the out-of-state ban is probably unconstitutional, but that he doesn’t have the authority to declare a law unconstitutional. In 2021 a US District Court in New Jersey struck down the out-of-state ban for primary petitions, so the law is void for primary petitions. But the law continues to ban out-of-state circulators for general election petitions.

There has never been any state in which out-of-state circulators were banned for general election petitions even though they were permitted for primary petitions, until this moment.

On June 9, the Eighth Circuit heard Dakotans for Health v Johnson, 25-2940. The issue is the February petition deadline for inititive petitions. South Dakota has severe winter weather, and a winter deadline effectively means the initiative must gather its signatures in the year before the election. See this account of the oral argument. The lower court had struck down the deadline.