On May 12, the South Carolina legislature passed SB 108, which bans fusion. “Fusion” means the ability of two parties to nominate the same candidate. BAN had earlier thought this idea had failed. But the ban on fusion had been transferred out of HB 4919 (a bill that did not pass) and into another bill, SB 108.

Assuming the Governor signs it, that will leave only two states with disaggregated fusion, New York and Connecticut. “Disaggregated fusion” means the candidate is listed twice on the ballot, once under each party label. That gives the voters the ability to decide which party label they prefer.

On May 11, the New York Libertarian Party, as well as independent U.S. Senate candidate Diane Sare, asked the state trial court that invalidated the U.S. House and State Senate districts to let them intervene. The intervention would be for the purpose of judicial relief for the 2022 petitions for independent candidates and the nominees of unqualified parties. The candidates ask for fewer signatures for statewide candidates, an elimination of the distribution requirement for the statewide petitions, and an extension of the petition deadline from May 31 to June 27. The case is Harkenrider v Hochul, in the Supreme Court, Steuben County.

Here is the brief. Without judicial relief, the statewide petitions must have 500 signatures from each of half the U.S. House districts, and yet the district boundaries won’t be known until May 20, and the petition deadline is May 29.

The South Carolina legislature will adjourn on Thursday, May 12. HB 4919, the bill to ban fusion, seems unlikely to pass. The bill passed the House on March 3, and passed the State Senate on April 21. But the Senate amended the bill and sent it back to the House, to see if the House would agree to the amendment. So far the House has taken no action since then.