On December 16, the Maine Libertarian Party filed notice with the Secretary of State, letting her know that the party desires to let independent voters sign petitions to get Libertarians on the Libertarian primary ballot. The 2025 legislature passed a bill letting parties make this decision for themselves.

Maine requires a large number of signatures for candidates to get on primary ballots. For example, 2,000 signatures are needed for statewide office, regardless of how many registered voters the party has. But because 32% of Maine voters are registered independents, letting them sign will make it easier for Libertarians to get on the party’s primary ballot. It’s still a tough job, but the job would be much harder if only the 7,000 registered Libertarians could sign.

On December 17, Jane Nelson, Texas Secretary of State, filed this brief in Hunt v State of Texas, n.d., 2:25cv-200. This is the case in which the Texas Republican Party is challenging the open primary and demanding a closed primary for itself.

The Attorney General supports the lawsuit and has been trying to persuade the court to approve a consent decree, in which the state would agree with the Republican Party. In response, the Secretary of State hired her own attorneys, who argue that a consent decree can’t approved when the state’s chief election officer opposes that maneuver.

The current bill in the U.S. Senate to require states to use ranked choice voting for congressional elections now has a bill number, S.3425. It has two sponsors, Peter Welch of Vermont and Andy Kim of New Jersey.

This is the first time a U.S. Senate bill on this subject has had more than a single sponsor. In the previous congress, the bill, known as S.5048, only had Welch as a sponsor.