On March 27, New Mexico Governor Michelle Grisham signed SB 672. It provides for election-day registration, and also automatic voter registration, in which each adult citizen known to exist is automatically registered. Thanks to Rick Lass for this news.
California State Senator Tom Umberg has amended his SB 505, the bill to set detailed guidelines on who can get on a presidential primary ballot. The “debates participation” option is now more stringent. Originally the bill just said a candidate must participate in a “national debate”. Now it says only debates sponsored by ballot-qualified parties count, and the debate must be available for viewing in at least two states. However it does not say the debate must be broadcast, so it could be a You Tube. Here is the amended copy of the bill.
Attorneys for the Utah elections office have indicated they want to put a freeze on the lawsuit Holland v Cox, 4:18cv-74. This is the case that challenges the 2016 Utah law that says independent candidates must have this label on the ballot: “This candidate is not affiliated with, or does not qualify to be listed on the ballot as affiliated with a political party.” The purpose of freezing the lawsuit would be to allow the legislature a chance to repeal the law when it convenes early next year.
The lawsuit had been filed in 2018 by the state’s only independent candidate for any federal or state office, Marsha Holland. She learned that many voters, on seeing the label on the ballot next to her name, felt the ballot was saying that she was not qualified.
On March 23, Gary Wnuk, an Alcona County, Michigan, County Commissioner, changed his party from Republican to Constitution. The office is partisan.
On March 26, California held special elections for State Senate in the First and Thirty-Third districts. Here is a link to the election returns. In the first district, no one got a majority and the runoff will be between two Republicans. In the 33rd district, no one got a majority and there will be a runoff between a Democrat and a Republican. Also in the 33rd district, where there were twelve candidates, a Green Party member, Cesar Flores, got 1.5%.
