The best election law bill in Congress is HB 3863, which Virginia Congressman Donald Beyer introduced on June 11, 2021. It would convert most U.S. House elections to the Single Transferable Vote system, and would create much larger U.S. House districts. If enacted, it would substantially ease the gerrymandering problem. Unfortunately, it has not gained any co-sponsors other than the original seven co-sponsors.

Millions of dollars are being spent by wealthy individuals to promote state initiatives to abolish partisan primaries and create top-four or top-five systems. It is unfortunate that those same individuals aren’t instead promoting HR 3863.

The original co-sponsors are Jamie Raskin of Maryland, Jim Cooper of Tennessee, Ro Khanna of California, Jim McGovern of Massachusetts, Scott Peters of California, Joe Neguse of Colorado, and Earl Blumenauer of Oregon. All are Democrats.

On March 15, the Fourth Circuit issued this short order in Goldman v Brink, 21-2180. This is the case on whether Virginia must cut short the terms of members of the lower house of the legislature to just one year. Virginia elects its state officers in odd years, and in November 2021 elected members of the lower house using the 2010 census redistricting, not the 2020 census. A voter sued, arguing that it would violate “one person, one vote” to use those districts until the November 2023 election. The plaintiff wants elections for that office this year.

The lawsuit was in a 3-judge U.S. District Court, but the state appealed to the Fourth Circuit before it was even decided, hoping the Fourth Circuit would rule that the plaintiff lacks standing. But the Fourth Circuit said the 3-judge district court can do that all by itself, and returned the case to that court.

The chair of the New Jersey Democratic Party has asked the Democratic National Committee to bless the idea that New Jersey should have the first presidential primary. See this story. Democrats hold majorities in both houses of the New Jersey legislature and New Jersey has a Democratic governor, so if the national Democratic Party supports making New Jersey first, then it should be possible for a bill moving the New Jersey presidential primary to February or January to pass. Thanks to PoliticalWire for the link.

New Jersey has been one of the last states to hold presidential primaries. Starting in 1968, the New Jersey presidential primaries have always been in June.