On February 26, the Rhode Island Senate Judiciary Committee defeated SB 2593. It would have eased the definition of a qualified party.
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The lead letter to the editor in the March 17 Chicago Tribune criticizes the Illinois ballot access laws. See it here.
As previously reported, there will be a hearing in Gilbert v Weber on Monday, March 23, in Sacramento Superior Court. This is the lawsuit over whether the California Secretary of State has an obligation to vet the qualifications of candidates for California Governor. The state Constitution requires gubernatorial candidates to have lived in the California for the five years preceding filing candidacy papers.
A British newspaper, the Daily Mail, plans to cover the hearing. On March 16 it obtained permission from the court to have its reporter (who is physically in Florida) attend the court hearing via zoom. The entry granting permission appears on the docket sheet. Gilbert v Weber, 26WM000011. The plaintiff argues that Eric Swalwell, who is higher in the polls than any other Democrat in the gubernatorial race, does not meet the duration of residency qualifications.
On March 11, the Louisiana Senate Government Affairs Committee passed SB 49. It switches elections for Board of Elementary & Secondary Education out of the closed primaries, and into the old system in which every candidate runs on the state general election, and if no one gets 50% there is a runoff. Those elections are scheduled for 2027.
An identical bill, HB 529, is pending in the House.
On March 12, the University of Southern California and ABCChannel 7 in Los Angeles announced that they will host a California gubernatorial debate. Unlike all the other California gubernatorial debates held this year, some candidates are not invited even though they have been polling higher than one of the candidates who is invited. The sponsors are inviting Matt Mahan, yet they are excluding Antonio Villaraigosa and Xavier Becerra.
The latest poll, Emerson College, shows Mahan, Becerra, and Villaraigosa each at 3%.
The poll before that, Trudeot, shows Becerra 5%, Villaraigosa 4%, and Mahan at 3%.
The poll before Trudot, Global Strategy, shows Becerra 5%, Mahan 3%, Villaraigosa 2%.
And the poll before that, IVC Media, shows Becerra 3%, Villaraigosa 3%, Mahan 2%.
See this story, criticizing the debate sponsors. Mahan himself says in the story that the sponsors are being unfair.