On February 25, the state of Ohio sued the U.S. Census Bureau over the Bureau’s announcement that states can’t obtain 2020 census data until September 30, 2021. The state says it must have the data sooner than that, in order to draw new boundaries for U.S. House and state legislative districts. State of Ohio v Coggins, s.d., 3:21cv-64. Here is the state’s Complaint.
A hearing will be held before U.S. District Court Judge Thomas M. Rose on March 19, 2021.
On March 1, the Idaho Senate passed SB 1110 by 26-9. It changes the petition requirements for statewide initiatives. Currently they need the signatures of 6% of the last vote cast in eighteen of the state’s thirty-five legislative districts. The bill changes this so that the petition would need 6% in all thirty-five districts.
All seven of the Senate’s Democrats voted “no”. In addition, two Republican Senators, Daniel Johnson and Jim Woodward, voted “no.” The bill appears to violate the Idaho Constitution, which has language protecting the initiative process. It is virtually impossible to qualify any petition when it must have a substantial number of signatures from every unit of the state. If the subject matter of the initiative had vast popular appeal in the overwhelming majority of parts of the state, but it was unpopular in just a small segment of that state, it could not get on the ballot. There is no state that has ever required any type of petition to get a large number of signatures in every legislative district.
On February 17, the North Dakota Senate passed SB 2271 by 43-3, making it illegal for any government employee or contractor to release any presidential general election returns before the Electoral College meets in mid-December. Government could release the percentage of the vote received by any presidential candidate, but not the vote total. The bill only takes effect once the National Popular Vote Plan goes into effect. Here is the text.
The purpose of the bill is to sabotage the National Popular Vote plan. The bill is receiving strong opposition from editorials. So far it has not made any headway in the House.
Here is an interesting op-ed by a Senator who voted for the bill but who now regrets her vote. Here is an op-ed in the Jamestown Sun against the bill.
On March 3, the Arkansas Senate passed HB 1338 by a vote of 29-3. It raises the number of signatures for independent presidential candidates, and the presidential nominees of unqualified parties, from 1,000 signatures to 5,000.
The only three “no” votes were cast by Senators Joyce Elliott, Jim Hendren, and Clarke Tucker. Hendren is a Republican; the other two are Democrats.
Illinois township elections are mostly partisan. The Illinois election law lets township parties decide for themselves whether to nominate by primary or caucus. If the party nominates by caucus, it has the power to insist that no one may be nominated who is not part of a slate of candidates for all the township offices. Townships elect a supervisor and trustees.
Bloom Township’s Democratic Party had a contested caucus last month, and many candidates were not able to be nominated because they weren’t part of a full slate. Some of those candidate have filed a federal lawsuit, Merrick v Wilcox, n.d., 1:20cv-7782, alleging that the full slate rule for caucus township nominations is unconstitutional. They were in state court earlier, but the state court wouldn’t consider the constitutional issue.
The township general election is April 6, 2021. Here is a motion filed on March 4 by the plaintiffs, asking that the candidates who were not able to be nominated at the caucus at least be allowed to be on the general election ballot as independents.
