The Tennessee Senate Local Government Committee had been set to hear SB 2189 on Tuesday, March 22. However the hearing has been postponed until Wednesday, March 23. This is the bill to ease the petition needed for new party recognition.

An identical bill in the House lost on the House floor last week, by only two votes. More representatives voted for it than against it, but abstentions count as “no” votes, and 15 representatives didn’t vote. If the Senate bill passes, that bill could be brought up in the House later.

Several Illinois news stories have recently pointed out the large share of state legislative elections with only one candidate running. The paucity of candidates is due to the restrictive Illinois ballot access laws, both in the general election and also, to a lesser extent, in primary elections.

Here is an article from Capitol Fax.

There is also a front-page story in the March 21 issue of the Journal Register, the Springfield daily newspaper, but it is behind a pay wall. It is titled, “One in Five Voters May not have a Say in Some Races.” Thanks to Sam Cahnman for this news.

On March 21, U.S. District Court Judge David J. Novak, a Trump appointee, held a status conference in Goldman v Northam, e.d., 3:21cv-420. This is the case on whether Virginia must hold elections this year for lower house of the state legislature. The last election for that office was in November 2021, and the state used districts based on the 2010 census. The plaintiff argues that it violates one-person, one-vote to allow members of the lower house to remain in office til January 2024, when they were elected in districts based on the 2010 census.

The judge ordered another round of briefs, to be confined to whether the plaintiff, a voter, has standing. All new briefs will be filed by April 21. This news story says that the judge orally scolded the state for having caused the case (which was filed last year) to move so slowly.