Even though the Florida legislature doesn’t convene until January 9, 2018, Florida legislative committees are already working on 2018 bills. On October 11, SB 45 passed the Senate Ethics and Elections Committee. It says that elected state and local officials who want to run for federal office must first resign their state or local position. See this story. The bill is sponsored by Senator Travis Hutson (R-Elkton).

Such “resign-to-run” laws have generally been upheld by courts. They do not run afoul of the principle that states can’t add to the qualifications to run for federal office, because they don’t block anyone from running for Congress. But, they do force potential federal candidates to take an action that they would probably rather not do.

Cosmopolitan Magazine has this article by Mindy Finn, the vice-presidential nominee who ran in 2016 as an independent with Evan McMullin. The article doesn’t say much about her vice-presidential run, but instead focuses on the need for more woman candidates for important elected office.

The U.S. Supreme Court considered whether to hear Minnesota Voters Alliance v Mansky at its October 6 conference, but when the results of that conference were revealed on October 10, the Court had not acted on that case. It will be considered again at a future conference. The issue is a Minnesota law that makes it illegal for a voter at the polls to wear anything relating to politics.

It is already established law that voters can be barred from wearing something at the polls that expresses a point of view about some race on the ballot, but the Minnesota goes further. One of the plaintiffs was wearing something that referred to the Tea Party, but the Tea Party was not on the ballot. The lower courts had upheld the Minnesota law.