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.
On March 14, West Virginia HB 3005 went into effect when Governor Jim Justice let it become law, although he wouldn’t sign it. West Virginia law lets governors appoint new legislators when a seat becomes vacant. However, the Governor must appoint someone from the same party. The bill clarifies that the party of the previous office-holder is the party at the time the former member resigned or died, not the party when the previous office-holder had last been elected. This is only important in the rare instances when an office-holder switches parties and then resigns. See this story.
California holds a primary on June 5 for Congress and partisan state office. In the 34th U.S. House district, the only candidates who filed to be on the ballot are the Democratic incumbent, Jimmy Gomez; Green Kenneth Mejia; and Libertarian Angela McArdle.
On March 14, Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser signed Bill B22-0192, which establishes public funding for candidates for Mayor and city council. See this story. Thanks to the Institute for Free Speech for the link.
