Pennsylvania held a special election on April 5 to fill the vacancy in the State House, 116th district. The results: Republican 65.50%; Democratic 29.56%; Libertarian 4.94%.
When this district last elected someone, in November 2020, the results were: Republican 72.31%; Democratic 27.69%.
On April 6, the California Secretary of State issued a new Report of Registration, showing the number of registered voters in each party. This is a supplemental report, because the last report had come out on February 9, but it was incomplete because there hadn’t been enough time to calculate the number of registrants in each U.S. House and legislative district, because the districts had just been drawn. See this link.
Each Report of Registration lists the state chair and contact information, for each party. The new Report lists Markham Robinson as chair of the American Independent Party, but he died on August 25, 2021. The February 9 Report had the same flaw. After the February 9 Report came out, I talked to two employees of the California Secretary of State’s office, informing them. I was assured that this error would be corrected in the future. But, it has not been corrected.
According to Mark Seidenberg, the current chair of the American Independent Party is Wiley Drake. Mark Seidenberg is a former leader of the American Independent Party who now lives in Alaska and who is registered to vote in Alaska.
This newspaper story says that because Democratic Party registration in South Dakota is sinking, and is down to only 26%, it is getting more difficult for Democratic candidates to get on their own party’s primary ballot. In South Dakota, candidates running in primaries need a petition of 1% of the party’s registered voters.
Smaller qualified parties don’t have the same problem, because they are allowed to nominate for all office by convention.
On April 6, the Missouri House passed HJR 131, the proposed constitutional amendment that would preserve the ability of parties to nominate candidates for partisan office. If the legislature passes it, it will be on the November 2022 ballot. It is likely that there will be a top-four initiative on the same ballot. If both are on the ballot, the one that gets the most votes would prevail over the other one, because they contradict each other. Thanks to Ken Bush for this news.
This article explains the complicated Ohio redistricting situation. It appears the May 3 primary will include U.S. House races, along with the statewide and local government primaries. But there will be a separate, later primary for legislative seats.
