Single Transferable Vote is a voting system for electing members to legislative bodies. It is one form of proportional representation. Even though it is a very old system, it is not well-known in the United States. Law Professor Steve Mulroy, a proponent of the system, has this clear explanation at ElectionLawBlog.
On January 23, the New Mexico House State Government, Elections and Indian Affairs Committee passed HB 55, the National Popular Vote Plan bill. Now it goes to the House Judiciary Committee.
The vote was 6-3, with all Democrats voting “yes” and all Republicans voting “no.”
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.
Arizona State Senator Martin Quezada (D-Phoenix) has introduced SB 1057. It would change the presidential primaries from closed to semi-closed. Currently only party members may vote in a presidential primary, but the bill would let independent voters vote in any party’s presidential primary.
It is peculiar that Arizona law already lets independents vote in non-presidential primaries, but not presidential primaries. This causes confusion.
Under the U.S. Supreme Court decision Tashjian v Republican Party of Connecticut, if the Arizona Democratic Party wanted to let independents vote in its presidential primary, it could do that, notwithstanding state law. The decision said that states must let independents vote in partisan primaries, if the party wants to let independents vote in its primaries.
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.
