On February 25, the South Dakota Senate State Affairs Committee passed HB 1095. It moves the petition deadline for non-presidential primary candidates from the last Tuesday in March to the third Tuesday in March.
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On February 26, eight former high-ranking U.S. Department of Justice officials filed this amicus curiae brief in Pitts v U.S., n.d. of Georgia, 1:26cv-809. This is the lawsuit over the validity of the FBI raid that seized Fulton County, Georgia 2020 ballots and other election records. See page 12 and following pages for a description of flaws in the search warrant.
William Weld is one of the signers.
On February 26, PPIC released a California gubernatorial poll, listing more candidates than most polls. It listed Butch Ware, the Green Party candidate, and found him at 2%. The poll also differs from other polls by showing that only 10% of the respondents are undecided.
The poll shows five candidates with at least 10%: Steve Hilton 14% (Republican), Katie Porter 13% (Democrat), Chad Bianco 12% (Republican), Eric Swalwell 11% (Democrat), Tom Steyer 10% (Democrat).
The poll did not mention the Peace & Freedom and Libertarian candidates, but the poll shows that 3% of the voters support a candidate who was not listed.
On February 25, the Ohio House passed SB 63, which stops local governments from using Ranked Choice Voting for elections for their own officers. Technically the bill doesn’t outlaw RCV; it just says that any local government that uses it loses state funding. The vote was 65-27. Two Democrats, Representatives Lauren McNally and Daniel Troy, voted for the bill. Otherwise it was a party-line vote.
No local government in Ohio uses Ranked Choice Voting. It is ironic that Ohio’s legislature has passed this bill. In the 1920’s Ohio was a pioneer in the use of alternative voting systems.
The Federal Election Commission routinely issues charts showing the dates of congressional primaries, and the filing deadlines for congressional candidates. Here is the latest version, issued February 25.