On June 9, the Maine legislature passed LD 231, which lets independent voters choose a primary ballot, even though they are not members of the party. The bill was originally titled as a bill for an “open primary”, but it was amended to say that it is now a bill for a semi-open primary.
The Maine bill is similar to laws in Arizona and Colorado. More common are states that leave it up to each party that has a primary to decide for itself whether to let independents vote in its primary.
On June 8, the Colorado legislature passed HB 1071. It says that if a city wants to use ranked choice voting for its own city officer elections, the county elections office must handle that RCV election for the city. This will make it far easier for cities to try ranked choice voting. Thanks to Fairvote for this news.
Five candidates will be on the New Jersey ballot for Governor in November 2021: the nominees of the Democratic, Republican, Libertarian, Green, and Socialist Workers Party. See this story, which says that is the smallest number of candidates for that office since 1953.
In 1953, there were nominees from the Republican, Democratic, and Socialist Labor Parties, and two independents.
Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak was interviewed on a television news program on Monday, June 7. When asked about AB 192, the bill to establish a presidential primary, he said, “So that was a good thing, I think for everybody, to get rid of the caucuses and have the primaries.” See this story.
However, he still hasn’t signed the bill, as of the morning of June 8.
Tuesday, June 8, is the deadline for independent candidate petitions, and petitions for the nominees of unqualified parties, in both New Jersey and Virginia gubernatorial elections. The New Jersey deadline is 4 p.m. The New Jersey election office website shows that the Green Party and the Socialist Workers Party have both submitted their petitions, but there will probably be more filings by the end of the day.
