On the evening of May 19, the Nevada Senate passed SB 292 on a 12-9 party-line vote, with all Democrats voting in favor and all Republicans voting against. It makes it more difficult to place new or previously unqualified parties on the ballot. In imposes a severe distribution requirement, and moves the petition deadline from mid-June to mid-May. It also puts a straight-column device on general election ballots. Now it goes to the Assembly.
On May 19, the U.S. House voted on a resolution to set up a commission to investigate the January 6, 2021 incident at the Capitol. Every Democrat voted for it, and 35 Republicans voted for it. Later a list will be posted here.
Among the eleven Republicans elected in California’s top-two system, only one, David Valadao, voted in favor.
UPDATE: by state, the Republicans who voted “yes” are:
Alabama: Barry Moore
Arkansas: Steve Womack, French Hill
California: David Valadao
Florida: Maria Salazar, Carlos Gimenez
Idaho: Mike Simpson
Illinois: Rodney Davis, Adam Kinzinger
Indiana: Trey Hollingsworth
Iowa: Mariannette Miller-Meeks
Michigan: Fred Upton, Peter Meijer
Mississippi: Michael Guest
Nebraska: Don Bacon, Jeff Fortenberry
New Jersey: Chris Smith
New York: Andrew Garbarino, Chris Jacobs, John Katko, Tom Reed
Ohio: David Joyce, Anthony Gonzalez
Oklahoma: Stephanie Bice
Oregon: Cliff Bentz
Pennsylvania: Brian Fitzpatrick
South Carolina: Tom Rice
South Dakota: Dusty Johnson
Texas: Tony Gonzales, Van Taylor
Utah: John Curtis
Washington: Jaime Herrera Beutler, Dan Newhouse
West Virginia: David McKinley
Wyoming: Liz Cheney
Eleven Pennsylvania state representatives have introduced HB 1369, which would let independent voters choose a partisan primary ballot on primary day. Members of qualified minor parties would not be considered independents and would not be able to choose a primary ballot.
On May 19, the Sixth Circuit issued a two-page order in Ohio v Raimondo, 21-3294. It says Ohio does have standing to sue the Census Bureau over the late redistricting data. The Sixth Circuit sent the case back to the U.S. District Court for a decision on the merits. Thanks to Political Wire for this news. The three judges were Amul Thapar (a Trump appointee); David McKeague (a Bush Sr. appointee: and Martha Daughtrey (a Clinton appointee).
On May 18, California held a special legislative election in Assembly district 54 in Los Angeles. There were five Democrats and one Socialist Workers Party candidate. The SWP candidate, Bernard Senter, was handicapped by California election law that did not allow him to list his party affiliation. Instead the ballot said, “Party preference: none.”
The results: Senter polled 4.5%, placing fifth. The Democrats polled these percentages: Isaac Bryan 49.7%; Heather Hutt 24.3%; Cheryl Turner 10.6%; Dallas Fowler 7.6%; Samuel Morales 3.2%. See here.
