On February 28, Arkansas State Senator Trent Garner did not present his SB 276, even though it was on the Committee agenda for the Senate State Agencies & Government Affairs.  This is the fifth time it was on the agenda but was not brought up.

The bill moves the primary for all office from May to March.  It also moves the petition deadline for a newly-qualifying party from January of the election year, to November of the year before the election.  Both deadlines are unconstitutional, based on precedents from federal court in Arkansas and many other states.  It is possible Senator Garner is trying to decide whether to create a deadline that might pass constitutional muster, and that is why he still hasn’t presented the bill.

Ohio Representative Jack Cera (D-Bellaire) has introduced HB 101.  It moves the primary in presidential years, for all office, from March to May.

Ohio primaries are in May, except in presidential election years, they are in March.  If the bill passed, it would automatically move the non-presidential independent candidate petition deadline (in presidential years) from March to May.  Thanks to FrontloadingHQ for this news.

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.