On May 16, the Nevada Senate Legislative Operations & Elections Committee passed AB 186, the National Popular Vote bill. It had already passed the Assembly.
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Salon interviewed Nicholas Sarwark, national chair of the Libertarian Party, on Congressman Justin Amash’s recent comments about President Trump.
See the story here. UPDATE: see this story in The Hill, published May 21.
On Sunday, May 19, the Texas Senate passed HB 2504 on second reading. It will probably be brought up on third reading in a day or so. It makes it easier for a party to remain on the ballot. But it also imposes filing fees on the nominees of parties that use conventions. Thanks to Art DiBianca for this news.
Texas House Bill 4128, which would have replaced presidential electors who don’t vote for the presidential candidate who received the most popular votes in Texas, will not pass the legislature. It had passed the House Committee but didn’t get any further.
Texas is the only state in 2016 in which some Republican presidential electors voted for someone other than the person who got the most popular votes in that state. One Republican presidential elector voted for John Kasich, and another voted for Ron Paul.
A bill to replace “disobedient” electors has now been introduced in two sessions of the Texas legislature (2017 and 2019) but never passed.
On May 16, Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds signed HF 692, an omnibus election law bill. It moves the petition deadlines for non-presidential independent candidates, and the nominees of unqualified parties, from August to March.
The new deadline is almost certainly unconstitutional. The Iowa primary is in June. Courts routinely strike down non-presidential independent candidates deadlines that are substantially earlier than the primaries for the same offices. The only exception is for states that have primaries in September or late August.