On June 24, the North Carolina legislature passed HB 3, which switches elections for city office for various cities from non-partisan to partisan elections. One of those cities, Monroe, is affected by the bill. According to this news story, the city wasn’t even consulted about the change.
Monroe is in Union County, near Charlotte. Monroe has a population of 34,000.
Connecticut SB 1156, which had passed the Senate Government Administration & Elections Committee, did not make any further headway, and it is now too late for it to pass. It eased the paperwork for petitions for minor parties that have qualified status in some parts of the state but not other parts.
The ballot-qualified Independent Party of Louisiana has agreed to cease to exist. See this story.
Andrew Cuomo says he hasn’t decided yet whether to continue running for Mayor of New York City in the general election. He already petitioned under the “Fight and Deliver” line, so he would be on the November ballot if he wishes. See this story.
UPDATE: the New York Post, which had run the first story, now says sources say Cuomo won’t run in November. See here.
On June 16, the Vermont legislature passed HB 474. It says someone who loses a major party primary may not then qualify as the nominee of a minor party, or as an independent. Also it says write-ins will no longer be counted unless the candidate has filed a declaration of write-in candidacy before the election. For general election write-in candidates, the deadline is the Thursday before the general election. Here is the text of the bill, which is an omnibus bill with many other provisions.
The “sore loser” part of the bill appears to apply to independent presidential candidates, but not minor party presidential candidates. It says, “A candidate who loses a major party primary for any office shall not appear on the general election ballot as an independent candidate for the same office for which the candidate lost in the primary election.”
UPDATE: Governor Phil Scott signed the bill on June 25.
