On February 1, a subcommittee of the House Privileges & Elections Committee defeated HB 540. The bill would have eased the definition of “political party” from a group that polled 10% for any statewide race at either of the last two elections, to 3%.
The bill to drastically improve Indiana ballot access, SB 328, has two new co-sponsors: Republican Mike Bohacek, and Democrat Mark Stoops. The bill has passed the Senate Committee and will soon have a vote on the Senate floor.
On February 1, a U.S. District Court invalidated Florida’s policy of not letting ex-felons register to vote unless the Governor restores that individual’s voting rights. Hand v Scott, n.d., 4:17cv-128.
Maine supporters of ranked choice voting will submit their referendum petition to the Secretary of State on Friday, February 2. The town clerks have already determined that it has enough valid signatures to place the referendum on the June 2018 ballot. This petition, at least temporarily, suspends the virtual repeal of RCV passed last year.
This referendum will mean that Maine must use ranked choice voting in the June 2018 primary. If the voters in June sustain RCV, it will also be used in November 2018 for congress.
On February 1, Nebraska State Senator Bob Krist filed a federal lawsuit against the 2016 Nebraska law that raised the number of signatures for a non-presidential independent candidate from 4,000 signatures (for statewide office) to 10% of the number of registered voters. Krist v Gale. Krist is an independent candidate for Governor this year.
The lawsuit also challenges the old law that says independent candidates cannot be called “independent” on the ballot. Instead they have “by petition” printed on the ballot. UPDATE: here is the Complaint. Krist v Gale, 8:18cv-39. The case is assigned to Judge Joseph Bataillon, a Clinton appointee who had a previous case concerning the county distribution requirement for initiatives. He declared the county distribution requirement unconstitutional, but later the Eighth Circuit reversed him by saying the plaintiffs didn’t have standing.
