On February 12, the New York Senate passed AB 2570, which cuts the number of signatures down to only one-fourth of the normal requirement, for 2019 primary candidates. The bill had already passed the Assembly. The rationale for the law is that it is too difficult to collect signatures in winter weather. In the last seventy years, the normal petitioning period for New York primary candidates has been in the spring. But this year, and in future years, because the primary is in June (instead of September), primary candidates are having a difficult time collecting signatures. The bill does not apply to office inside New York city because the bill’s author didn’t think that the problem exists in New York city.

Steve Goodale of Newsgrowl has published this article about Arkansas SB 163, the bill to almost triple the number of signatures for a new party to get on the ballot. The bill will be voted on in the House on February 13, Wednesday.

Every member of the Montgomery County, Maryland legislative delegation is sponsoring HB 624. This is a bill to let Montgomery County use ranked choice voting for its own officers. The bill has a hearing in the House Ways & Means Committee on February 19. The bill’s chances are very good, given that the entire county delegation supports it. Thanks to Michael Drucker for this news.