On February 26, the U.S. House Administration Committee passed H.R. 1, the federal election law bill that includes reforms favored by Democrats. One of the little-discussed provisions of the bill makes it much more difficult for presidential candidates to qualify for primary season matching funds.
On February 27, the New Mexico Senate Rules Committee passes SB 418. Originally the bill said that major parties (the parties that nominate by primary) must allow independent voters to vote in their primaries, or else those parties must pay for their own primaries.
New Mexico is not in the 8th circuit, but there is an 8th circuit precedent that says if a state requires a party to nominate by primary, then the government must pay the election administration costs of that primary. Republican Party of Arkansas v Faulkner, 49 F 3d 1289 (1995).
The Senate Rules Committee amended the bill. It no longer threatens any party that the government will no longer pay for its primaries. Instead it provides that any party entitled to a primary can decide for itself whether to let independents vote in its primaries.
On February 26, the Washington State Senate passed SB 5074 by 26-20. It says that if a presidential elector votes for someone other than the person who received the most popular votes in the state, then that person is deemed to have resigned and will be replaced by someone chosen by the other electors.
It seems peculiar for the legislature to pass this bill now, when soon there will be a decision from the Washington State Supreme Court on whether the U.S. Constitution does permits states to punish presidential electors for voting in unexpected ways.
Bills have been introduced in both houses of the Illinois legislature to lower the number of signatures for the three citywide non-partisan offices in Chicago. The bill would lower the number from 12,500 to 5,000 signatures.
The bills also lower the number of signatures needed for partisan Cook County countywide office, but only for primary candidates. Those petitions would drop from one-half of 1% of that party’s last general election vote, to exactly 5,000 signatures. The bills are SB 2083 by Senator Heather Sterns, and HB 3114 by Representative Kelly Cassidy.
The bills also allow a pilot program to test the idea of letting signatures be gathered electronically.
Connecticut held special elections in five legislative districts on February 26. In the 39th House district, centered on New London, the Green Party nominee polled 28.52%. The Democratic nominee won the seat with 51.33%. The Republican Party nominee polled 11.67% on the Republican line and 3.04% on the Independent Party line. An independent candidate polled 5.44%. The Working Families Party did not enter this race.
Here are the results. First, at the top, under “select election”, choose the top option, February 26, 2019. Then click on the 39th district House choice.
The other special elections were in the State Senate districts 3, 5, and 6; and the State House district 99.
