Connecticut is holding a special State Senate election on February 26 in the Fifth District, which is centered on West Hartford. The Libertarian Party nominee is Jeff Przech, and he has petitioned to be on the ballot as a Libertarian, although his petition hasn’t been verified yet.

The Independent Party, which is ballot-qualified in that district, has also nominated Przech, so Przech will probably be on the ballot twice, and voters can choose to vote for him either as a Libertarian or as an Independent Party nominee. See this story. In 2018 practically all of the Independent Party nominees for federal and state office were also Republican nominees.

On January 23, the Wyoming Senate defeated SF 65 by a vote of 5-24. This bill is officially titled the “Open Ranked Choice” Bill.

It had passed the Senate Committee on January 22, receiving the votes of three Republican Senators, and the opposition of two Republican Senators (there are no Democrats on the committee). But on the Senate floor, only two Republicans voted for it, Cale Case and Michael Von Flatern. The three Democratic Senators also voted for it.

On January 23, the Delaware House Administration Committee passed HB 41 by a vote of 4-0. It moves the primary from September to the Fourth Tuesday in April.

The bill would have the indirect effect of moving the deadline for a new party to get on the ballot, from August, to early April. Delaware is in the Third Circuit. The Third Circuit ruled in Council of Alternate Political Parties v Hooks, 121 F.3d 876 (1997) that New Jersey’s petition deadline for non-presidential independent candidates, and the nominees of unqualified parties, could not be as early as April.

HB 41 has 18 co-sponsors.