On March 1, the Utah House passed HB 259 by 48-21. This is the bill to eliminate the straight-ticket device.
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On February 27, the New Hampshire House passed HB 588. It amends the law on who can file to run in a presidential primary. Current law says a candidate must be a registered member of that party. The bill adds that the candidate is also eligible if he or she is recognized as a candidate for the nomination of that party. Here is the text.
The existing law is irrational, because 19 states don’t have registration by party. But no one seems to have noticed the flaw in the law until 2016, when Bernie Sanders filed to run in the Democratic presidential primary, even though he is an independent, not a Democrat. He was allowed to file anyway, although someone did file a challenge against his ballot status.
On February 27, the Tennessee House State and Local Government Committee defeated HB 1273. It would have changed Tennessee from an open primary state to a closed primary state. Tennessee has always had open primaries and the voter registration form has never asked applicants to choose a party. The bill only got 2 votes in committee. Thanks to Michael Drucker for this news.
Israel holds a parliamentary election on April 9, 2019. Here is the wikipedia list of parties participating in the election. There are forty parties participating in the election.
On February 26, the Nevada Assembly Committee on Legislative Operations and Elections heard AB 186, the national popular vote plan bill. It has nine Assembly sponsors and three Senate sponsors, all Democrats. The hearing lasted two hours. See this story. Democrats have majorities in both houses of the legislature, and the Governor is a Democrat, so this bill is somewhat likely to pass. Thanks to PoliticalWire for this news.