BAD ACCESS BILLS PASS IN IOWA AND VERMONT, BUT NOT IN DELAWARE OR NEW HAMPSHIRE

During June, restrictive ballot access laws passed in Iowa and Vermont, but were defeated in Delaware and New Hampshire.

Delaware:  HB 65 would have moved the deadline for a new party to get on the ballot from August to March.  The purpose of the bill was to move the non-presidential primary from September to April, and because the deadline for a new party is tied to the primary date, the bill automatically makes the deadline far more restrictive.

The bill had passed the House overwhelmingly in April and had passed the Senate Elections & Governmental Affairs Committee in May.  But it was never brought up on the Senate floor, and the legislature has just adjourned.

There is no need for Delaware to link the deadline to the date of the primary.  Small and new parties nominate by convention, not primary, so it is irrational to link the deadline to the primary date.

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On Julyl 15, some independent voters in Pennsylvania filed a lawsuit in the State Supreme court, arguing that the state constitution does not permit the state to exclude independent voters from voting in partisan primaries.  Smercomish v Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, e.d.

On July 17, the British government announced that a bill will be introduced soon to lower the voting age to sixteen.  Because the Labour Party has a majority in the House of Commons, and the party backs the idea, it is considered certain to pass.  See this story.