Missouri House Bill 26 has been dropped from the House calendar, so it is considered dead. It had passed the House on second reading on March 27, but then it was never brought up for third (final) reading. It would have changed Missouri from an open primary state, to a closed primary state. Thanks to Ken Bush for this news.
On May 16, the Texas Senate State Affairs Committee passed HB 2504. It imposes filing fees on candidates nominated by parties that nominate by convention. But it also makes it easier for a party to remain on the ballot.
In Texas, qualified parties, other than the Democratic and Republican Parties, always nominate by convention, not by primary. Under current law, no candidates pay filing fees except candidates filing in a primary. The only valid state purpose for the fees is to prevent the primary ballots from being too crowded, so there is no legal rationale for the filing fee part of the bill.
The part of the bill that makes it easier for a party to remain on the ballot would have the effect of putting the Green Party back on the ballot. The Green Party last appeared on the ballot in 2016. The bill says if a party polled 2% for any statewide race at any of the last five elections, it is qualified. So if it becomes law, the Green Party would be back on the ballot. It was on in 2000 and 2002, and also it was on in 2010, 2012, 2014, and 2016.
Two Libertarians testified against the bill (because of the filing fee provision) and one Green testified in favor of the bill.
On May 16, two California election law bills passed the Assembly Appropriations Committee. They are AB 1451, which outlaws paying initiative circulators on a per-signature basis; and AB 681, which requires election officials to send three messages to independent voters in advance of a presidential primary, telling them which parties allow independents to vote in their presidential primaries. AB 681 was amended to provide that it takes effect as soon as it is signed into law.
On May 16, New Hampshire HB 588 passed the Senate Election Law Committee. It had already passed the House. It deletes the requirement that a presidential primary candidate must be a registered member of the party whose primary he or she is entering.
The law has never made any sense, because nineteen states don’t have registration by party. It has never been enforced. In 2016, a challenge was filed to Bernie Sanders’ entry into the Democratic presidential primary, but it was overruled. Sanders lives in Vermont, a state without registration by party.
On April 30, the Minnesota House amended a budget bill that had already passed the Senate. The House amended the bill to include the National Popular Vote Plan bill, and passed the bill, SF 2227. But the Senate did not agree with the amendment.
The Minnesota House as a Democratic majority, but the Senate has a Republican majority. Minnesota has the only legislature currently in which one house has a majority of one party, but the other house has a majority of the other party.
