On April 18, Congressman John B. Larson (D-Connecticut) introduced HR 7536. It would require citizens to vote in every federal election, and would impose a $20 fine on those who did not. There are various exemptions in the bill, which can be see here.
Larson has been in the U.S. House starting with the 1998 election.
On April 19, the Tennessee Republican Party removed Morgan Ortagus from its August primary ballot because she has not lived in the state for three years. Although the legislature recently passed a duration of residency requirement, that law has not yet taken effect. Thus the party action has no support in state law. See this story. The story does not say if she plans to sue. Thanks to PoliticalWire for the link.
The Alaska House State Affairs Committee will hear SB 161 on Thursday, April 21, at 3 p.m. This is the bill to ease the definition of a qualified party. It has already passed the State Senate unanimously. It reduces the number of registrants needed for qualified status from 3% of the last vote cast (about 11,000) to exactly 5,000.
On April 19, David Gill appealed his Illinois ballot access lawsuit to the Seventh Circuit. This is the case over the 5% (of the last cast) petition requirement for U.S. House independent candidates. It is the second most severe in the nation for that office, yet last month a U.S. District Court upheld it. Gill v Scholz.
The Utah Democratic Party state convention meets on Saturday, April 23. It will ponder whether to avoid nominating anyone for U.S. Senate, so as to bolster the chances of independent candidate Evan McMullin. See this story.
