On June 4, a U.S. District Court in Arkansas heard the Libertarian Party case against the new ballot access law for new parties. See this news story describing the hearing. There will be a decision in the near future.
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Lincoln Chafee, a former Governor and U.S. Senator from Rhode Island, has changed his voter registration from independent to Libertarian. He now lives in Wyoming. Thanks to Political Wire for this news.
On June 5, the Oregon House passed SB 870, the National Popular Vote Plan bill. It is now through the legislature. The vote was 37-22.
On June 3, the Louisiana legislature passed HB 563, which moves the 2020 presidential primary from the first Saturday in March, to the first Saturday in April.
Although Louisiana has six qualified parties, only parties with at least 40,000 registered voters have their own presidential primary in Louisiana, so this change only affects the Democratic and Republican Parties. Thanks to Josh Putnam for this news.
On June 4, the Maine legislature passed LD 1626. It sets up a presidential primary in 2020, in March. It does not include ranked choice voting, nor does it alter the law that doesn’t let independents vote in Maine primaries unless they join a party on or before primary day. Thanks to Josh Putnam for this news.