On March 2, the Tennessee House Elections & Campaign Finance Subcommittee passed HB 2067, the bill to make it easier for a new party to get on the ballot. The bill next goes to the Local Government Committee; the hearing will be March 8, Tuesday.
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The Orange County Register has this article about the Common Sense Party and its inability so far to qualify for the California ballot. Thanks to Eric Wong for the link.
On March 3, several organizations filed an amicus curiae brief in the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of the petitioners, in Thompson v DeWine, 21-1120. This is the Ohio case on whether the state should have given petitioning relief to initiative proponents during the covid health crisis.
The Court has this case on its March 4 conference, but no news will be available until March 7 at the earliest.
On February 23, the South Dakota Senate Commerce & Energy Committee defeated HB 1116. It would have moved the presidential primary from June to early March. It would have retained the June date for the non-presidential primary. The bill had passed the House on February 15. County election officials testified against the bill, citing the cost of holding two different primaries in the same election year.
On March 3, the South Carolina House passed HB 4919. Among other things, it outlaws fusion (the ability of two parties to jointly nominate the same candidate).