New Mexico Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver says she intends to place a straight-ticket device on 2018 general election ballots, according to this story. There is no New Mexico election law authorizing such a device. The legislature has already adjourned for the year. One would think if she wants a straight-ticket device, she would have asked the legislature to authorize it. Thanks to Rick Lass for the link.
New Hampshire Secretary of State Bill Gardner has been Secretary of State for 42 years. Throughout that long tenure, he has acted to erect ballot access barriers and do what he could to keep minor parties off the ballot. He has enormous influence over the New Hampshire legislature. There have been dozens of bills over the past few decades to improve New Hampshire ballot access, and he always testifies against such bills, or else sends his chief deputy to testify against them. And those bills are always defeated.
Since he has been Secretary of State, the independent petition requirement for statewide office has risen from 1,000 to 3,000. The number of votes for a party to remain on the ballot has increased from 3% to 4%. The time for collecting signatures on the new party petition has shrunk from unlimited time, to seven months. Gardner influenced the legislature to pass a bill that forced minor party and independent candidates to file a declaration of candidacy several months before their petitions were due, thus cutting the ability of a new party to have a free choice of nominees after submitting the petition.
Under his administration, New Hampshire remains one of the very few states to forcibly deprive a party of all its registered members when it goes off the ballot. The only other states that do that are Florida, Maine, Maryland, Nebraska, North Carolina, and Oklahoma.
According to this NPR story, Colin Van Ostern is launching a campaign to replace Gardner. In New Hampshire and Maine, but no other states, the legislature chooses the Secretary of State, so Van Ostern must campaign for the Secretary of State job by influencing legislators. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.
On March 10, the West Virginia legislature passed HB 4002, which eliminates multi-member legislative districts.
On March 14, the South Carolina Senate unanimously passed HB 4977, which changes the method for electing lieutenant governors. Current law says voters choose lieutenant governor as a separate office. The bill, which has now passed the legislature, requires that in the general election, gubernatorial and lieutenant governor candidates run as a team. There would be no more primaries for lieutenant governor; gubernatorial nominees would choose their own running mate after the primary.
On March 14, North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper said he will appoint members of the State Board of Elections this week. Once the board has members, the Green Party will be on the ballot. The election law says the Green Party belongs on the ballot because its presidential nominee was on the ballot in at least 35 states in 2016. But employees of the Election Board refused to carry out this part of the law, saying they couldn’t because the Board had no members.
