Missouri Representative Dan Stacy (R-Blue Springs) has introduced HB 1345. It changes Missouri from a state with open primaries, to a state with closed primaries. The Missouri voter registration form does not now ask the applicant to choose a party, but in the future it would. A registered member of a party who voted in a closed primary would be unable to change party affiliation for at least one year after that primary.

The bill does not provide that a party that wants to let independents vote in its primary may do so, so the bill is unconstitutional as applied to that issue. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1986 in Tashjian v Republican Party of Connecticut that parties may decide for themselves whether to let independents vote in their primaries.

The bill says that if a party wants an open primary, or if it wants to nominate by caucus, it can do that, but it must pay the cost of administering such a primary or caucus.

Currently, New Hampshire defines a party to be a group that polled at least 4% for either Governor or U.S. Senator at the last election. Two of the state’s Libertarian House members have introduced two bills to ease that. HB 1568 would let voters register into unqualified parties, and if 1% of the total state registration registers into a party, then it is also a qualified party. This would include newly-qualifying parties as well as already-qualified parties.

HB 1448 expands the vote test from just Governor or U.S. Senate, to either of one of the two U.S. House seats. Also it says that if a party has a sitting State Senator, or a member of the Executive Council, or at least 16 House members, it is also a qualified party.

The existing 4% vote test was created in 1997. It is so difficult, it has only been used by any party, other than the Democratic and Republican Parties, once, in 2016 when the Libertarian Party polled over 4% for Governor. New Hampshire elects its Governor every two years.

The authors are Caleb Dyer and Brandon Phinney. Thanks to Darryl Perry for this news.

On January 22, South Dakota bill SB 79 passed the Senate State Affairs Committee. It lets registered independents sign a petition to place a candidate on a partisan primary ballot.