The Tennessee legislature has now adjourned for the year. Before it adjourned, it passed SB 2497, which shrinks the petitioning period for candidate petitions from 90 days to 60 days. However, the bill leaves presidential petitions at 90 days. Petition blanks won’t be issued until 60 days before the petition deadline (except presidential petitions are available 90 days before the deadline).
Congressman Steny Hoyer, the second-ranking Democrat in the U.S. House, says his party is worried that it will not have any candidates on the ballot in some California U.S. House districts, even in some states that the party could win in, because of the California top-two system. See this story.
On April 27, Colorado filed this brief in defense of its ban on out-of-state circulators. It says that the plaintiffs, including Congressman Doug Lamborn, waited too long to file the federal lawsuit against the ban. However, Congressman Lamborn filed his federal case only two days after the Colorado Supreme Court had removed him from the Republican primary ballot.
The state says Lamborn is free to be a write-in candidate in the Republican primary. And the state says it needs a ban on out-of-state circulators because if the state needs to interview out-of-state circulators about their work, it would take too long to get in touch with them.
Texas holds a special election to fill the vacancy in the U.S. House, 27th district, on Saturday, June 30. Filing closed on August 27. Parties don’t have nominees in Texas special elections, but party labels are on the ballot. Three Republicans, three Democrats, one Libertarian, and two independents paid their filing fees in order to qualify. If no one gets 50%, there will be a runoff later. Thanks to Mark Jones for this news.
On April 26, on Fox and Friends, President Donald Trump said he wishes the U.S. elected presidents by popular vote, rather than using the electoral college. See this story. The story says the 2016 electoral college vote was Trump 304, Clinton 207. Actually it was Trump 304, Clinton 227, others 7.
