The Tennessee House Elections & Campaign Finance Subcommittee will hear HB 2067 on Wednesday, February 23. The bill lowers the petition for new party recognition from 2.5% of the last gubernatorial vote, to .5%. It also lowers the vote test for party retention from 5% to 1%.
John Danforth, who was a Republican U.S. Senator from Missouri 1976-1995, says in this news interview that he thinks a moderate Republican running as an independent could be elected in his state this year.
Nebraska State Senator Julie Slama has introduced LR282CA, a proposed constitutional amendment. It would convert Nebraska elections for legislature from non-partisan to partisan.
On February 17, fifteen Wyoming legislators introduced SF 97. It would eliminate the ability of a voter to change affiliation on primary day at the polls. Instead any changes in partisan affiliation would need to be made approximately two months before any primary. Here is the bill.
On February 17, U.S. District Court Judge Lee P. Rudofsky, a Trump appointee, rejected the Arkansas lawsuit that dealt with legislative redistricting. Arkansas State Conference of the NAACP v Arkansas Board of Apportionment, e.d., 4:21cv-1239. He determined that only the federal government can bring a lawsuit to enforce section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. This was a surprise, because attorneys for the state of Arkansas had not made this argument.
Judge Rudofsky invited the U.S. Justice Department to enter the case, but he said that must be done within five days. He also said that even if the Voting Rights Act can be enforced by private individuals or groups, he would not have struck down the state house district boundaries for the 2022 election, because that election is too close in time. Here is the opinion.
