Kansas State Senator John Doll has lost his committee assignments, because he changed his registration from Republican to independent. See this story.
3
On March 8, a conference committee of the South Dakota legislature revised the ballot access bill and greatly improved it. Then, both houses of the legislature passed the bill. The Senate vote was unanimous and in the House, only five members voted “no.”
The new ballot access procedure for small qualified parties is a petition of 1% of the last gubernatorial vote, due July 1. Then, the new party, and also older qualified smaller parties, are free to nominate for all office by convention, with no more petitioning needed.
The bill helps independent candidates by moving their petition deadline from April to July. UPDATE: unfortunately, the improvement in the independent petition deadline did not make it into the final bill. Thanks to Kurt Evans for that information.
March 7 was the first day for independent candidates, and the nominees of unqualified parties, to start petitioning in Pennsylvania. Those petitions are due on August 1. Although the statewide petitions are only 5,000 signatures, the district petitions are more severe, 2% of the winner’s vote in the last general election. For example, in the U.S. House 2nd district, the requirement is 6,451 signatures.
Therefore, it would be quite unsettling if the U.S. Supreme Court were to rule that the new districts should not be used, and the old districts should be used instead. All of the petitioning that has already occurred would be wasted effort. This is even more true for the primary petitions; the petitioning period for those petitions started in late February.
It is thought unlikely that the U.S. Supreme Court would upset the new districts, but it is conceivable. The Court still hasn’t ruled. The ruling could come at any time.
On March 7, Illinois told the U.S. Supreme Court that it doesn’t plan to respond to the ballot access cert petition filed by the Green Party. The Green Party challenges the petition requirements for nominees of unqualified parties to get on the November ballot. Those rules are so stringent, Illinois was one of only three states with no minor party legislative candidates on the ballot in 2016. The case is Tripp v Scholz, 17-1129.
Of course, if the Court wants Illinois to file a response, Illinois will then do so.
On March 7, Mark French, who was a candidate for Justice of the Peace in 2014 in Sanders County, Montana, asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear his appeal. He has been challenging a Montana law that does not allow him to say that the county Republican Party endorsed him. The lower federal courts upheld the state law. Here is his cert petition. French v Jones, 17-1255. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.