On January 7, New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham, and New Mexico Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver, issued a joint press release, mentioning election law changes they support. Their list includes letting nominating petition signatures be gathered electronically. Unfortunately they also want to bring back the straight-ticket device. Here is the list. Thanks to Rick Lass for the link.

Their list, unfortunately, does not include adding the statewide initiative. New Mexico and Hawaii are the only western states without the initiative process. Also their list says nothing about abolishing the petition for convention nominees. New Mexico is the only state in which a convention nominee, after being nominated, must submit a petition to be on the general election ballot. Qualified minor parties in New Mexico nominate by convention, but the state irrationally requires them to submit a petition, even though their party has already met a numerical test to show it has a modicum of support. The irrationality of the law can be shown by imagining what people would say if the law required major party primary winners to then submit a petition to be on the November ballot.

On January 6, a Nevada state trial court refused to disqualify a proposed initiative for top-five. The petition hasn’t gathered the needed signatures yet, but a voter had said even if it did, it could not be on the ballot because it doesn’t have a funding source specified, and in Nevada, initiatives that cost taxpayer money must specify how to pay for the expense caused by the measure. The judge said there is no evidence that the initiative, if enacted, would cost the government to spend any additional money. The state analysis on whether the measure would cost more money is still pending. Helton v Nevada Voters First PAC, 1st judicial district, 21 OC 172.

The case will be appealed to the State Supreme Court. See this story. If the measure were to become law, it would be more difficult for parties to retain their qualified status, because the measure would abolish the lenient vote test (except for president). Thanks to Fairvote for this news.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has this story about the Eleventh Circuit ruling of January 5. This story is better than most such stories, because the reporter put near the top of the story the fact that the law has existed since 1943 and no minor party candidate for U.S. House has ever been able to comply.