On February 23, the South Carolina House Judiciary Committee passed HB 4919. Among other things, it bans fusion. The bill has 51 co-sponsors. The House has 124 members.
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On February 14, the Arizona Senate Government & Elections Committee unanimously passed SB 1460. It lets independent candidates collect electronic signatures. Current law only lets primary candidates collect electronic signatures.
Unfortunately, the bill also moves the filing deadline for write-in candidates from 40 days before the election, to 106 days before the election. Having such an early filing deadline for write-in candidates defeats the purpose of having write-ins, because generally write-in voting is most useful when something unexpected happens later in the election year. Also the bill says if no one files to be a qualified write-in candidate, the write-in blank line for that particular office should be eliminated from the ballot.
On February 17, the New Hampshire Senate Election Law & Municipal Affairs Committee passed SB 328. It moves the non-presidential primary from September to June. It also moves the petition deadline for independent candidates, and the nominees of unqualified parties, from August to May. If it passed, it would almost certainly be held unconstitutional, especially as applied to independent presidential candidates.
Governor Chris Sununu vetoed a similar bill last year.
On February 24, the Third Circuit issued an opinion in Benezet Consulting v Secretary of Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, 20-2976. This case concerns Pennsylvania’s ban on out-of-state circulators for petitions to get candidates on primary ballots. The lower court had invalidated the law, but only as applied to the 2020 election. The Third Circuit expanded that ruling so that it includes future elections as well. However, the relief is limited the the plaintiffs who filed the case. The Third Circuit did not expand the relief to others, because it concludes that the ban is only unconstitutional as applied to petitioners who are members of the same political party that they are working for (albeit members of the same party in another state).
It seems that any other petitioners can get similar relief, if they show that they are willing to submit to the jurisdiction of Pennsylvania courts should anyone question their work, and if they are members of the same party as the candidate they are working for.
The decision will be published. It is written by Judge L. Felipe Restrepo, an Obama appointee. It is also signed by Judge Theodore McKee, a Clinton appointee; and Judge Jane Roth, a Bush Jr. appointee.
The U.S. Supreme Court will consider whether to hear Thompson v DeWine, 21-1120, at its March 4 conference. This is the case over whether Ohio should have given petitioning relief for initiatives during the health crisis.