On March 9, the Hawaii Senate unanimoously passed SB 560. It provides for ranked choice voting in special elections. The bill now goes to the House.
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The Fulcrum has this article by Michael Feinstein. It points out that HR One, the Democratic election law bill that has already passed the U.S. House, injures minor party presidential campaigns by making it five times more difficult to qualify for primary season matching funds. Thanks to the Institute for Free Speech for the link.
The Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives has just published “Statistics of the Presidential and Congressional Election of November 3, 2020.” It has the November election returns for president and each house of Congress, by state. There are charts in the back showing the national total vote each party, for each house of Congress. The booklet is 81 pages long and will be in print later. For now it can be seen on-line. Thanks to Thomas Jones for the link.
The Federal Election Commission also publishes a book of election returns every two years, for all federal office. The FEC book includes primaries, whereas the Clerk’s book does not. However the FEC usually takes a year to publish its book, so it isn’t out yet.
The Clerk has been publishing a similar book every two years starting in 1920.
As previously reported, on February 10, the New York legislature passed A 4686, which cuts the number of signatures for independent candidates in 2021 only. However, the bill still hasn’t been sent to the Governor. It is quite common in New York for bills to pass the legislture, but then they don’t get sent to the Governor for action from him for very long periods of time. These petitions are due in May, so the delay makes it very difficult for 2021 independent candidates to plan their petition drives.
Lake County, Oregon voters will vote in local elections on May 18, 2021. Among the items on their ballots will be a county initiative that would allow voters to support the idea that Lake County should leave Oregon and become part of Idaho. The actual question is “Shall the County Board of Commissioners meet three times annually to discuss promoting Lake County’s interests regarding location of the state border.” Two other Oregon counties, Jefferson and Union, voted “yes” on similar measures in 2020. See this story.