On March 7, New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez pocket-vetoed SB 178. It would have ended primaries for Lieutenant Governor. Instead, party nominees for Governor would have chosen their own Lieutenant Governor running mate after the primaries were over.

Because of the veto, the current system will remain in force, in which candidates for Lieutenant Governor file to run in party primaries, but in November Governor and Lieutenant Governor run as a team. This can result in a Governor and a Lieutenant Governor who are not politically compatible.

Texas held primaries on March 6 for Congress and partisan state and county office. Approximately 1,600,000 voters chose a Republican ballot, and approximately 1,060,000 voters chose a Democratic ballot, for a total of 2,660,000 primary voters.

Texas has 15,249,541 registered voters, so this is a turnout of approximately 17%. Texas almost always has one of the nation’s lowest turnout rates. Perhaps if the Texas primary were later in the year, turnout would be higher. The only other state with a March primary is Illinois, which holds its primaries this year on March 20. After that, no state has a primary earlier than May 8.

Six unqualified parties are now legally permitted to begin petitioning for a place on the general election ballot. Voters who voted in the primary cannot sign such petitions. Texas is the only state that bars primary voters from signing a petition to place a party on the general election ballot.

On March 7, Kansas State Senator John Doll said he is changing his registration from Republican to Independent. He represents southwest Kansas. He will be the Lieutenant Governor running mate for independent gubernatorial candidate Greg Orman. See this story. Doll has been in the legislature since 2012, and he was Mayor of Garden City before he was elected to the legislature.

The number of state legislators who have left the Democratic and Republican Parties in the last few years is probably higher now than at any time in the last one hundred years.