On February 12, Nebraska State Senator Bob Krist switched his party registration from independent to Democratic. He had filed a lawsuit on February 1 against the 10% petition requirement for non-presidential independent candidates, but it appears that lawsuit will now be dismissed. He plans to seek the Democratic nomination for Governor, instead of being an independent candidate for Governor. Thanks to Mark Elworth for this news.
On February 12, a trial started in Lopez v Abbott, s.d., 2:16cv-303. This is a civil rights election law case filed in July 2016, alleging that the Texas system for electing State Supreme Court Justices, and also Justices of the Court of Criminal Appeals, makes it almost impossible for hispanics to be elected. The lawsuit argues that these elections should not be statewide, but that judges should be elected from single-member districts.
These elections are partisan and Republicans have won all of them since 1994. The trial is expected to last a full week. If the plaintiffs win, Texas judicial elections would not longer be a means for minor parties to retain their places on the ballot, because only statewide races count for that purpose.
On February 10, the New Mexico House unanimously passed HJM 19. It sets up a 13-member commission to study various ideas for improving elections, including ballot access, open primaries, non-partisan redistricting, ranked choice voting, public financing of campaigns, automatic voter registration, fusion, and proportional representation.
The commission would consist of three State Senators, three State Representatives, and six members of the public. Of the six public members, three would be registered as independents or as members of parties other than the Democratic and Republican Parties.
On January 16, U.S. Senators Marco Rubio (R-Florida) and Chris Van Hollen (D-Maryland) introduced S2313. It is pending in the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee. It requires the Director of National Intelligence to determine whether any foreign government did any of these things: (1) obtain unauthorized access to election and campaign infrastructure; (2) block or degrade otherwise legitimate and authorized access to election and campaign infrastructure or related systems or data; (3) use social or traditional media to spread significant amounts of false information to individuals in the United States; (4) spend money for internet advertising about U.S. candidates.
The bill specifically mentions Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea. It does not say those countries have done any of the actions, but it says if it is determined that they did, it outlines specific actions to be taken by the U.S. government in retaliation. Thanks to Election Administration Reports for this news.
John Sittner, the founder of Ancestry.com and civic activist, will be an independent candidate for U.S. House this year in Utah’s 2nd district. The 2nd district includes western Utah and most of Salt Lake City. It is usually a safe district for the Republican nominee. See this story.
