On February 10, the Sixth Circuit upheld the Ohio law that says the membership of the Ohio Elections Commission shall consist of three members from each of the two largest parties in the state, plus an independent member. Libertarian Party of Ohio v Wilhem, 20-3585. Here is the 12-page decision.

The decision is not too surprising. For almost fifty years, courts have been upholding laws that confine the membership on election administration boards to people representing each of the two largest parties.

SB 43 has been introduced in the New Hampshire legislature. It would provide that each U.S. House district choose its own presidential elector. Thanks to Alvin See for this news.

On February 9, the New York Assembly passed A4686. It lowers the number of signatures for independent candidate petitions, for district office, for 2021 only. The bill cuts the requirements in half. The bill does not affect the statewide petition requirement of 45,000, although there are no scheduled statewide offices up in 2021 anyway. The chief impact of the bill is for Supreme Court elections (which are district elections in New York state), and local office.

The vote was 144-4. The four “no” votes were cast by three Republicans (Christopher Friend, Karl Brabenec, and David DiPietro) and one Democrat (Charles Barron). Thanks to Joe Burns for this news.