Michigan State Appeals Court Strikes Down Three Recent Restrictions on Statewide Initiatives

Posted on by January 28, 2020
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On January 27, the Michigan State Court of Appeals invalidated three restrictions on statewide initiatives that were passed by the legislature in 2018. League of Women Voters of Michigan v Secretary of State, 350938.

The vote was 2-1. The three restrictions are: (1) a provision that no more than 15% of the requirement signatures should come from residents of a single U.S. House district; (2) the requirement that each petition sheet contain a checkbox telling if the circulator is paid or unpaid; (3) a requirement that paid circulators, but not unpaid circulators, file an affidavit with the Secretary of State before starting to work.
Here is the majority opinion. Thanks to Thomas Jones for the link.

Virginia Legislative Committee Kills Top-Four Bill

Posted on by January 28, 2020
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On January 27, the Virginia House Privileges & Elections Committee postponed HB 360 until 2021, which is equivalent to killing it for this session. The bill sets up a system in which all candidates would run in the June primary. Then, only the top four candidates could run in November, and the November election would use ranked choice voting.

Also, on the same day, the same committee passed HB 1103, which would let local governments use ranked choice voting for elections for their own officers.

Hearing Set in Minnesota Ballot Access Case

Posted on by January 28, 2020
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U.S. District Court Judge David Doty will hold a hearing in Libertarian Party of Minnesota v Choi, 0:19cv-2312, on Tuesday, May 19. This is the case in which the Libertarian Party challenges the wording on the petition for independent candidates and the nominees of unqualified parties. It says that the signers “do not intend to vote” in the upcoming primary.

New Hampshire Bill for an Office-Group Style Ballot

Posted on by January 28, 2020
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Two New Hampshire Representatives, one Republican and one Democrat, are sponsoring HB 1403. It would convert New Hampshire from a state with party column ballots, to a state with office-group ballots.

Over the last thirty years, almost every state has switched to an office-group ballot, in which the ballot is organized by particular offices. For each section for a particular office, all of the candidates for that office are listed neatly.

The only states that still have party-column ballots are New Hampshire, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey (in most counties), and Delaware.

The two New Hampshire Representatives sponsoring the bill are Timothy Lang, a Republican from Belknap County; and Charlie St. Clair, a Democrat from Belknap County. Thanks to Darryl Perry for this news. Here is the bill.