Seth Masket, a political scientist who specializes partly in political parties and partisanship, has published this essay which outlines the institutional weaknesses of state legislatures in many states, but which then suggests that these deficiencies can partly be overcome by … Continue reading
On February 3, the Kansas House Elections Committee passed HB 2108. This is the bill to reinstate the straight-ticket device. Kansas repealed it in 1923. See this editorial from the Kansas City Star, criticizing the bill. … Continue reading
On February 4, at the beginning of the Oklahoma House Elections & Ethics Committee hearing, the chair of the committee announced that Speaker Jeffrey Hickman is unable to appear at the hearing today, so Hickman’s ballot access bill, HB 2181, … Continue reading
This article about spending in California’s 2014 statewide elections has lots of interesting information, but one especially interesting point is that John Chiang, a Democrat, spent only $24,293 on his election campaign. In November he won with 58.8% of the … Continue reading
Bills have been introduced in both Massachusetts and Vermont to provide that overseas absentee presidential primary ballots should allow a limited form of ranked-choice voting. Both states in 2016 will have March 1 presidential primaries, and in both states, the … Continue reading
