On February 8, Tennessee bills to ban local governments from using ranked choice voting passed in committees in both houses. They are SB 1820 and HB 1868. They may receive floor votes on February 14.
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On February 8, the Mississippi House passed HC39 by 92-26. It restores the initiative process. If the bill passes, then the voters will vote on it. All of the “no” votes were from Democratic members of the House.
On February 1, the Mississippi House Apportionment and Elections Committee defeated HB 373, which would have raised candidate filing fees.
Fifty-one members of the South Carolina House have introduced HB 4919, which bans the ability of two parties to jointly nominate the same person. The bill also makes changes in absentee voting. The South Carolina House has 124 members.
On January 27, seven Arizona Representatives introduced HB 2640. It cuts the number of signatures in half, both for candidates seeking a place on a primary ballot, and also for independent candidates. The existing 2022 petition requirement for statewide independent candidates is approximately 40,000 signatures, but the bill would cut that to approximately 20,000.
The sponsors are Representatives Neal Carter, Shawnna Bolick, Judy Burges, David Cook, Lupe Diaz, Brian Fernandez, and Jacqueline Parker. All are Republicans except that Fernandez is a Democrat. The Arizona State House has sixty members.