HR 4464, the bill in the U.S. House to require use of ranked choice voting for all congressional primaries and elections, can now be read at the web page for Congress. Thanks to Thomas Jones for this news. See here.

If enacted, the bill would force California to alter its top-two system to either permit write-ins in the general election, or to allow the top three candidates to qualify for the November ballot.

On September 17, the Montana Secretary of State filed this brief in the ballot access case Montana Green Party v Stapleton, 6:18cv-87. This is the case that challenges the March petition deadline for newly-qualifying parties, and the distribution requirement that requires unequal numbers of signatures from at least 34 state house districts. The case was filed in 2018 and is still in U.S. District Court.

Montana’s distribution requirement is unique in history. It is the only distribution requirement that is based on units of equal population (state house districts), yet which requires varying numbers of signatures from each district. In some districts as few as 55 signatures are needed; in others, as many as 150. The state’s brief does not really grapple with why the number of signatures required should vary at all, much less by a ratio of 1:3.

On September 27, a Michigan state trial court struck down two parts of a 2018 law that makes it more difficult to qualify statewide initiatives. The state constitution and the First Amendment were the basis. Initiative proponents cannot be required to use separate petitions for paid circulators and unpaid circulators. Also, the requirement that no more than 15% of the signatures can come from a single U.S. House district is void. See this story. Thanks to Thomas Jones for the link.