On April 16, the Nevada Assembly passed AB 186, the National Popular Vote Plan bill. The vote was 23-17. All Republicans voted against it. In addition, five Democrats voted against it: Teresa Benitez-Thompson, Maggie Carlton, Daniele Monroe-Moreno, Dina Neal, and Greg Smith. The bill has a Senate committee hearing on April 24.
On April 22, the staff of the New York city Charter Revision Commission recommended that the charter be amended to provide for Ranked Choice Voting. See the report here. The part about election changes begins on page eight.
The staff didn’t recommend that ranked choice voting be used specifically for primaries, or for general elections, or both. But it stresses the value of using ranked choice voting for primaries because it would eliminate the need for runoff primaries. Thanks to Michael Drucker for the link.
On April 17, the Brevard County Democratic Party resolved that the Florida Democratic Party should let independents vote in its primaries. Brevard County is the ninth most populous county in Florida, and contains Melbourne and Cape Canaveral. This resolution was earlier passed by the Miami-Dade County Democratic Party. See this story.
The party has a First Amendment freedom of association right to decide for itself whether to let independents vote in its primaries; the state government cannot interfere.
On April 18, the Arkansas Secretary of State filed an answer in U.S. District Court, in Libertarian Party of Arkansas v Thurston, e.d., 4:19cv-214. This is the lawsuit filed by the Libertarian Party on March 28, 2019, against the new law requiring a party to submit a petition signed by 3% of the last gubernatorial vote to get on the ballot. The old law required 10,000 signatures; the new requirement for 2020 is 26,746 signatures.
The fact that the answer has been filed quickly is helpful for moving the case along rapidly. It is likely that the matter of injunctive relief might be resolved during May 2019.
Level the Playing Field has filed a notice of appeal in Level the Playing Field v FEC, the debates case. The case number in the U.S. Court of Appeals, D.C. Circuit, is 19-5117. This is the lawsuit over the Commission on Presidential Debates’ 15% poll requirement for inclusion in the debates.
