Utah State Senator Curtis Bramble (R-Provo) and Representative Patrice Arent (D-Salt Lake City) have introduced HB 259, which would repeal the straight-ticket device. Senator Bramble has been in the Utah Senate since 2000. Thanks to Steve Goodale for this news.
California State Senator Ben Allen (D-Santa Monica) has introduced SB 212. It would let non-charter counties, and non-charter cities, use ranked choice voting to elect their own officers. Currently only charter cities and charter counties can do that.
A similar bill was vetoed by former Governor Jerry Brown, but of course Brown is no longer Governor. Thanks to Dave Kadlecek for this news.
Matt Bai, political writer, has this thoughtful piece about Howard Schultz and the reaction to his proposed candidacy. Thanks to Ken Bush for the link.
Also, Peter Ackerman, founder of Americans Elect and Level the Playing Field, has written this commentary for the Independent Voters Network.
The Arkansas House Committee on State Agencies and Governmental Affairs will hear SB 163 on Wednesday, February 6, at 10 a.m., in room 151. This is the bill, which has already passed the Senate, that increases the number of signatures for a newly-qualifying party from 10,000 signatures, to 3% of the last gubernatorial vote, which would be almost 27,000 signatures. The bill does not affect the deadline, which is in January of election years. Nor does the bill alter the time permitted to collect the signatures, which is three months. UPDATE: the hearing will be at 1:30 pm.
If the bill is signed into law, Arkansas law for new parties will be virtually identical to what it was in 2006, when it was declared unconstitutional in Green Party of Arkansas v Daniels.
Newsgrowl has this comprehensive article about the Georgia ballot access laws for minor party and independent candidates, showing how they came into existence and how bad they are. The story also shows how the large newspapers in Georgia have failed to cover the story, and particularly how hostile the Atlanta Journal-Constitution has been to minor parties and independent candidates.
Newsgrowl is an on-line publication founded in January 2018. Although it covers news from around the world, it has a particular speciality covering state legislatures. Read this to learn more about Newsgrowl.
