Nebraska Primary Filing Closes

Posted on by March 17, 2022
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On March 15, filing for Nebraska primaries closed. The Legal Marijuana Now Party needs to poll 5% in November 2022 to remain ballot-qualified. Fortunately for the party, no Democrat filed to run for Attorney General or Auditor. The Legal Marijuana Now Party does have candidates for those offices, and they are certain to meet the vote test, with no Democrat running.

The Libertarian Party doesn’t need to worry about the vote test, because it meets the registration threshold. Here is a link to the list of primary candidates. The only minor party candidate for U.S. House is a Legal Marijuana Now Party candidate. Nebraska has no U.S. Senate election in 2022. Thanks to Mark Elworth, Jr., for this news.

Tennessee Ballot Access Bill Loses by Two Votes in House

Posted on by March 17, 2022
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On March 17, the Tennessee House defeated HB 2067 by two votes. It would have eased the definition of a qualified party. The bill received 47 “yes” votes and 35 “no” votes. However, because there are currently 97 representatives, the bill needed a majority of the membership, which would have been 49 votes. Fifteen representatives did not vote, and not voting had the same effect as voting “no.”

Democrats cast 15 votes in favor, 5 opposed, and 5 didn’t vote.

Republicans cast 32 votes in favor, 30 opposed, and 10 didn’t vote. The Speaker, Cameron Sexton, voted “no.”

The bill would have reduced the petition from 2.5% of the last gubernatorial vote, to one-half of 1%. It would also have eased the vote test for party retention from 5% to 1%.
Here is the roll-call. Click on the “votes” button at the top on the right.

An identical bill, SB 2189, is still alive in the State Senate. It has a committee hearing on March 22.

Ohio Supreme Court Again Invalidates Legislative Redistricting Plan

Posted on by March 17, 2022
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On March 16, the Ohio Supreme Court again invalidated a legislative redistricting plan. Here is the opinion in League of Women Voters of Ohio v Ohio Redistricting Commission. The May primary will now probably be moved to a later date. The vote was 4-3. The two dissents, together, are twice as long as the majority opinion, and quite angry.

If the primary is moved to a later date, that would also extend the deadline for independent candidate petitions to a later date.

Pennsylvania Releases Number of Signatures for Independent Candidates for U.S. House in 2022

Posted on by March 16, 2022
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On March 16, the Pennsylvania Elections Department released the number of signatures for independent candidates, and the nominees of unqualified parties, for U.S. House this year. They range from 1,000 signatures to 2,343 signatures. The total number of signatures for an unqualified party to run a full slate is 30,821. That is significantly lower than what it was in 2020, when 62,979 were required.

Here are the numbers for each of the seventeen districts.