Leading Ohio Democratic Party activists are about to launch a statewide initiative to bolster the National Popular Vote Plan. It would amend the state constitution to require the legislature to pass the plan. Here is a summary of the proposal.
8
Marsha Holland has asked a U.S. District Court to suspend her election law lawsuit until April 1, 2020, because the state elections office has agreed to ask the legislature to fix the problem that she complained about. She was Utah’s only independent candidate on the ballot for any federal or state office in the 2018 election, so she was the only victim of a new law that gives independent candidates a harmful ballot label.
If the legislature does not change the law by early in the 2020 session, the case will be revived. The label says that an independent candidate is “not qualified” to be a party nominee. The case is Holland v Cox, 4:18cv-74.
On April 3, Oregon SB 870 passed the Senate Rules Committee. This is the National Popular Vote Plan bill. This is the farthest progress this bill has ever made in the Oregon Senate.
On April 4, a subcommittee of the Iowa Senate amended a bill that had already passed the House, to add a provision making ballot access more difficult for independent candidates and the nominees of unqualified parties. Senator Roby Smith (R-Davenport) is responsible. The original bill, HF 692, had nothing to do with ballot access.
The amendment not only increases the number of signatures, but adds an unconstitutional county distribution requirement to petitions for statewide office and US House. Statewide petitions would need 4,000 (the existing law requires 1,500), with 200 signatures from each of ten counties. U.S. House petitions would need 2,000 signatures (the existing law requires 375 signatures), with 77 signatures from each of half the counties in the district.
State Senate petitions would rise from 100 to 200 signatures; State House petitions would rise from 50 to 100. Thanks to Joseph Howe for this news.
On April 3, New Mexico Governor Michelle Grisham signed HB 407, the omnibus election law bill that is approximately 500 pages long. Included in the bill is a provision easing the number of signatures for independent candidates. Under the old law, statewide independent candidates, including independent presidential candidates, needed 20,898 signatures. Under the new law, presidential independents need 3,483 signatures. Independents for other statewide office need 13,932 signatures. The new formula is one-half of 1% of the last gubernatorial vote for presidential independents, and 2% of the last gubernatorial vote for independents for other office.
Alabama and Montana are now the only states in which the statewide independent petition is greater than 2% of the last gubernatorial vote. The Montana requirement for presidential independents is 5,000, but for other statewide office it is 5% of the winner’s vote for that same office, which usually amounts to at least 2.7% of the total vote. Alabama presidential independents need 5,000, but other independent candidates need 3% of the last gubernatorial vote.