Earlier this year, the South Dakota legislature passed a proposed constitutional amendment, saying that some types of initiative can’t pass unless they receive at least 60% of the popular vote. The idea will be on the June 2022 ballot for voters to approve or disapprove.
On May 5, the South Dakota Supreme Court ruled that opponents of the idea cannot use the referendum procedure to stop or delay the measure. Dakotans for Health v Barnett, 2021 SD 30. Here is the seven-page opinion.
Texas HB 1987, the bill to ban party officers from running for public office, has been amended to apply only to parties that nominate by primary. Parties that nominate by convention are now not covered by the bill. Thanks to Jim Riley for this news.
The Virginia Republican Party finished counting the ranked choice convention ballots on Monday, May 10. See this story.
The party had counted the Attorney General ballots on Sunday, May 9, and has the detailed results for that office on its website. Probably on Tuesday, May 11, it will have the details of the gubernatorial count.
The Hawaii bill to use ranked choice voting in special elections, SB 560, has failed to pass the legislature. It passed both houses but the versions in each house were different. The conference committee never acted on the bill, so it can’t pass.
On May 7, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed SB 1890. It makes it illegal for anyone to contribute more than $3,000 to a committee trying to put a statewide initiative on the ballot.
Under many U.S. Supreme Court decisions on campaign finance, contribution limits are unconstitutional unless they are needed for the compelling government need to avoid bribery. One cannot bribe an initiative, so the law limits freedom for no important state purpose. On May 8, the Florida ACLU filed a federal lawsuit against the new law, ACLU v Lee, n.d., 4:21cv-190. Here is the Complaint. It lists all the measures the Florida legislature has passed in the last 30 years making the initiative more difficult to use. Thanks to the Institute for Free Speech for the news.
