On May 3, the Illinois House removed all the contents of SB 2412, a bill that originally concerned child welfare, and converted it into an election law bill.  It now eliminates the ability of a qualified party to nominate someone by party meeting if no one had won the party’s primary.

It also moves the petition deadline for presidential primary candidates from early January of the election year, to early December of the year before the election.  Illinois primaries for president and all other partisan office are in March of election years.

See this story, which says the bill is highly partisan and seems designed to eliminate the ability of the Republican Party to nominate for one particular state legislative seat this year. Assuming this bill becomes law, the Illinois Republican Party would have a strong case that the bill violates due process.  Thanks to Eliyahu Neiman for the link.

Current Rhode Island lets independent voters vote in a partisan primary, but if an independent chooses a party primary ballot at the polls, he or she is considered registered in that party unless the voters fills out a form on the way out, to remain a registered independent.

On April 23, the House passed H7662.  It eliminates the need for such a voter to fill out a form after voting in order to remain an independent.

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.’s New York petition shows that his ballot label in New York is “We the People.”  That means, if he gets on the New York ballot and polls 2% or more of the vote for president, the We the People Party will be ballot-qualified for 2025 and 2026 elections.