On January 28, the New Mexico House Government, Elections & Indian Affairs Committee passed HJR 5, a proposed constitutional amendment that would let independent voters choose a partisan primary ballot. Arizona and Colorado have similar provisions. Here is the text of HJR 5, which is sponsored by two Republicans and one Democrat.
On the evening of January 28, the U.S. Supreme Court requested the plaintiffs in the Alabama U.S. House redistricting case to respond to the state’s brief by Wednesday, February 2. Merrill v Milligan, 21A375.
Seven Pennsylvania representatives have introduced HB 2218. It moves the primary in presidential years from the fourth Tuesday in April to the third Tuesday in March. It has no effect on the primary date in non-presidential years, which is in May. Also, it has no effect on the petition deadline for independent candidates and the nominees of unqualified parties. That deadline is August 1. It was imposed by a court in 1984 and in all the years since, the legislature has never changed the election code to reflect the August 1 date. The statutory deadline continues to be three weeks after the primary.
The seven sponsors include six Republicans and one Democrat.
On January 28, Alabama asked the U.S. Supreme Court to block the order of lower courts, that required the state to create a second African-American majority U.S. House district. Here is the state’s application. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link. In the U.S. Supreme Court, the case is called Merrill v Milligan, 21A375.
The Calhoun Times has this lengthy article about the Georgia U.S. House race, 14th district. This is Marjorie Taylor Greene’s district. The main focus in the article is that Greene could conceivably be defeated in the Republican primary, according to a new poll. But the article also mentions that the Libertarian Party nominated Angela Pence at its recent state convention, and says she “likely” will be on the November ballot. The article also says she will need 23,000 signatures.
UPDATE: the Georgia Libertarian Party also nominated Mark Mosley for another U.S. House seat, and five state representative nominees. Pence and Mosley have begun petitioning.
