On March 12, the Ninth Circuit heard Arizona Libertarian Party v Arizona Secretary of State, 17-16491. Here is a Courthouse News Service story about the oral argument. UPDATE:
here is a link to the 43-minute oral argument.
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Montana HB 129 passed the House on January 24, and had a hearing in the Senate State Administration Committee on March 11. It would let counties decide whether to use partisan elections or non-partisan elections for their own officers. Most county elections in Montana are now partisan.
The article quotes New York Governor Andrew Cuomo as saying that public funding of campaigns for state office isn’t practical as long as New York still has fusion. It was not saying he is against fusion, but the inference is that he might support public funding if the legislature abolishes fusion. Thanks to Joe Burns for the link.
Texas Representative Briscoe Cain (R-Deer Park) has introduced HB 4439, which eases ballot access for independent candidates and minor parties. The statewide petition for independent candidates and new parties would be exactly 10,000 signatures.
Stevan Shepard has this interesting article at Politico, about the difficulty pollsters have with the race for the 2020 Democratic presidential race. Because entry to the party-sponsored debates depends on candidates polling at least 1%, pollsters feel a moral obligation to include every candidate who might plausibly get 1%. But, it isn’t easy for pollsters to ask respondents to choose from a list of twenty or more names.