On Tuesday, January 29, the New Mexico House Consumer & Public Affairs Committee will hear HB 93. This bill lets independents, and members of unqualified parties, vote in any party’s primary. It is thus similar to primaries in Colorado and Arizona, which are properly termed semi-closed primaries.
If the bill passes that committee, then it must also pass the State Government, Elections & Indian Affairs Committee, and then the Judiciary Committee.
On Tuesday, January 29, at 10 a.m., the House Judiciary will hear testimony on HR 1, the bill in the U.S. House that is generally supported by Democrats and which changes many federal election laws, especially campaign finance laws. The vast majority of bills never get a hearing in either house of Congress. Thanks to Rick Hasen for this news.
On Sixty Minutes, Howard Schultz said if he runs for president in 2020, it will be as a “centrist independent.” He criticized the Democratic Party for not caring enough about the 21 Trillion national debt, and said the Democratic Party plans for health care are too expensive.
Howard Schultz is interviewed on 60 Minutes, which airs on Sunday, January 27. He will discuss his thoughts about running for president as an independent in 2020.
On January 24, the New York Libertarian Party filed its reply brief in Redpath v Spano (formerly called Merced v Spano), 18-2089. This is the case over New York’s ban on out-of-state petitioners. The Libertarian Party had won the case in U.S. District Court, and the state appealed. Soon the Second Circuit will set an oral argument date. The state argues that no one is harmed by the ban on out-of-state circulators, because anyone from out-of-state can work, as long as he or she has a New York resident present also.
