On February 28, the New Hampshire House passed HB 706. Here is the text. It sets up an independent redistricting commission, to draw boundaries for all the partisan district offices in the state. Thanks to Darryl Perry for this news.
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On February 28, Arkansas State Senator Trent Garner abandoned his old bill to move the primary, and presented his new bill on the same subject, SB 445. It moves the primary for all office in presidential years from May to the first week in March. It leaves the primary in midterm years in May.
Significantly, SB 445 does not alter the petition deadline formula for newly-qualifing parties. That means that the petition deadline continues to be 60 days before the candidate deadline for filing in primaries. Because the bill moves the primary, that automatically moves the petition deadline, from January of the election year, to November of the year before the election.
Newly-qualifying parties do not nominate by primary, so it is completely irrational to link the date of the primary to that petition deadline.
The Senate Committee on State Agencies and Governmental Affairs passed SB 445 unanimously. Thanks to FrontloadingHQ for this news.
On February 28, the New Hampshire House defeated HB 440 on a voice vote. It would have required presidential candidates, and also congressional candidates, to reveal the last three years of their income tax returns. It would also have barred presidential electors from voting for anyone who had not released tax returns. Here is the text of the bill. Another bill on that topic, which only applies to presidential candidates, HB 202, is still alive. Thanks to Darryl Perry for this news.
Ballot Access News
February 1, 2019 – Volume 34, Number 9
| This issue was printed on white paper. |
Table of Contents
- NEW YORK INJURES BALLOT ACCESS
- LIBERTARIANS SUE ALABAMA OVER LIST OF REGISTERED VOTERS
- BALLOT ACCESS IMPROVEMENT BILLS
- MONTANA GREEN PARTY LAWSUIT
- MARYLAND LIBERTARIAN LAWSUIT
- REPUBLICAN PARTY WINS VIRGINIA CASE
- DELAWARE BILL HURTS BALLOT ACCESS
- 2020 PRESIDENTIAL PETITION DEADLINES
- 2018 VOTE FOR STATE SENATE
- 2018 VOTE FOR LOWER HOUSE OF STATE LEGISLATURE
- TWO LEGISLATORS SWITCH PARTIES
- BREAD & ROSES PARTY QUALIFIES IN MARYLAND
- LIBERTARIAN PARTY SETS RECORD
- ERRATA
- NEW YORK INDEPENDENCE PARTY THREATENED BY PARTY NAME BILLS
- JILL STEIN WINS A SECOND LAWSUIT ON VOTE-COUNTING MACHINES
- MANY NEWS SOURCES SAY HOWARD SCHULTZ IS THINKING OF RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT AS AN INDEPENDENT
- SUBSCRIBING TO BAN WITH PAYPAL
On February 28, Arkansas State Senator Trent Garner did not present his SB 276, even though it was on the Committee agenda for the Senate State Agencies & Government Affairs. This is the fifth time it was on the agenda but was not brought up.
The bill moves the primary for all office from May to March. It also moves the petition deadline for a newly-qualifying party from January of the election year, to November of the year before the election. Both deadlines are unconstitutional, based on precedents from federal court in Arkansas and many other states. It is possible Senator Garner is trying to decide whether to create a deadline that might pass constitutional muster, and that is why he still hasn’t presented the bill.