For many years, political scientists Boris Shor and Nolan McCarty have been studying polarization in state legislatures, analyzing hundreds of thousands of bits of data. Their latest research still shows that top-two systems do not result in less polarization.
Political scientist Jack Santucci here summarizes their recent findings in an article in Medium.Com. Thanks to John Fund for the link.
On February 15, the New Mexico Senate Rules Committee passed SB 254 by 6-5. It provides for primaries in special congressional elections. Under current law, in special congressional elections, party committees choose party nominees. The bill’s sponsor is Senator Mark Moores (R-Albuquerque). Most Democrats on the committee voted against the bill.
The bill also lowers the number of signatures for independent candidates in special U.S. House elections, from 2% of the last vote cast, to 1%. Here is the text of the bill. The primary would be held at least 63 days before the special general election. The bill will not effect the upcoming special election to fill Deb Haaland’s seat unless it passes by two-thirds in each house. But if it passes with only a majority vote in each house, it would be in place for elections held in years beyond 2021. Thanks to Rick Lass for this news.
On February 15, Nevada Assembly Speaker Jason Frierson introduced AB 126. It sets up a presidential primary for parties that are entitled to hold a primary for other office. The state’s two qualified minor parties, the Independent American Party and the Libertarian Party, nominate by convention and would not be given their own presidential primary.
The date of the primary would be the Tuesday that is one week earlierr than the last Tuesday in January, so it would be sometime between January 18 and January 24. The bill seems to indicate that anyone could be on a primary ballot merely by submitting a declaration of candidacy. No filing fee is mentioned. Here is the text. Thanks to Political Wire for this news.
The Kansas Green Party will launch a petition for party status on April 22, 2021. The petition must be completed within six months from the start date, and needs 21,112 valid signatures. No group, other than Americans Elect in 2011, has done the Kansas party petition since 1998.
Pennsylvania elects all its appellate judges, on three different types of court, in partisan races. They are all elected statewide. That includes the State Supreme Court, the Commonwealth Court, and the Superior Court.
Representative Russ Diamond (R-Lebanon) has introduced HB 38, which would convert all those elections into partisan district races. For example, for the State Supreme Court, the state would be divided into seven districts, with each district electing its own State Supreme Court Justice. The bill has 37 co-sponsors, all Republicans. The legislature would draw the boundaries for the judicial districts. Here is the text.
Currently the State Supreme Court has five Democrats and two Republicans. If the bill passes, it would amend the State Constitution, so voters would then need to approve it. It is possible the bill will pass in time to be on the May 2021 primary ballot. Republicans have a majority in both houses of the legislature, and because HB 38 is a proposed constitutional amendment, it does not need a gubernatorial signature.
Pennsylvania appellate court judges are very partisan. Last year a Republican mid-level court voted to keep Howie Hawkins, Green Party nominee, on the ballot. Democrats, who had challenged Hawkins, then appealed to the State Supreme Court, which removed him in a partisan vote.
