U.S. Supreme Court Dockets Ohio Case on Initiative Petitioning Relief During Health Crisis

Posted on by February 6, 2021
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The U.S. Supreme Court has assigned a case number to Thompson v De Wine, 20-1072. This is the Ohio case on whether election officials should have eased ballot access for initiatives during the health crisis. The state’s response is due March 8.

There are now at least three ballot access cases pending in the U.S. Supreme Court. Besides Thompson, there is Kopitke v Bell, 20-897, on the North Carolina independent presidential petition deadline of March 3 of an election year; and there is De La Fuente v Simon, 20-612, over Minnesota’s law letting political parties decide which candidates may appear on that party’s presidential primary ballot.

Also, there is Level the Playing Field v FEC, 20-649, which is not a ballot access case, but which concerns entry into general election presidential debates.

Virginia Bill to Put Political Party Question on Voter Registration Forms Dies

Posted on by February 6, 2021
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On February 5, the Virginia House Election Administration Subcommittee tabled HB 2278. It would have provided that voter registration forms ask applicants if they wish to register into any particular party. The bill was sponsored by five Republican Delegates. Virginia has a Democratic majority in each house of its legislature.

The bill was flawed, because it did not deal with whether voters could register into an unqualified party. Virginia’s definition of a party is so strict that only the Democratic and Republican Parties have met that definition, in the period since 1997. Virginia is one of only three states that has not had any ballot-qualified third parties in the 21st century. The others are New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Also Georgia has only had a ballot-qualified minor party that was ballot-qualified for statewide office, not all partisan office.

If the bill had passed, independents would still have been allowed to vote in any party’s primary, but registered Democrats could not vote in the Republican primary, and vice versa.

New Mexico Representative Switches from Republican to Independent

Posted on by February 6, 2021
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On June 5, it became known that New Mexico State Representative Phelps Anderson had switched his registration from “Republican” to “independent.” See this story. The story does not say if he plans to run for re-election in 2022. He was in the legislature 1976-1980, and also starting in 2018. In 2020, he had no opponent on the general election ballot. He lives in Roswell. Thanks to Rick Lass for the link.

Nevada Legislature Will Likely Pass a Bill in 2021 Establishing Presidential Primaries

Posted on by February 5, 2021
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The Nevada legislature is likely to pass a bill in 2021, setting up presidential primaries for the Democratic and Republican Parties. See this story. In Nevada, smaller qualified parties nominate by convention, so it is not likely the bill will set up presidential primaries for any other parties. No bill has yet been introduced. When it is introduced, the lead author will probably be Assembly Speaker Jason Frierson.

Kansas Releases Write-in Totals for Declared Presidential Write-in Candidates

Posted on by February 5, 2021
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The Kansas Secretary of State has released the tally of write-in votes for the 2020 declared write-in presidential candidates.

Howie Hawkins 669
Brian Carroll 579
Kanye West 332
Jade Simmons 48
Mark Charles 29
Tom Hoefling 14
Ajay Sood 4
Brock Pierce 4
Jason Edwards 2
Dario Hunter 1
Kasey Wells 1

Thanks to Tony Roza for this information.