The Texas House will vote on HB 25 on Friday, May 5. This is the bill to eliminate the straight-ticket device. Thanks to Jim Riley for this news.
A few days ago, a blog post on this web page said that Iowa Governor Terry Branstad had signed HB 516, which eliminates the device in Iowa. That blog post was incorrect and was removed shortly after it had been posted. It was based on misinformation from the Iowa Governor’s office. Governor Branstad has until the end of May to sign or veto that bill.
On May 2, Arizona Governor Doug Ducey signed SB 1307, which moves the deadline for parties to choose presidential electors from early June to late August.
On May 2, the Maine Secretary of State was instrumental in having LD 1571 introduced. It says that newly-qualifying parties may qualify by March of election years if they have 5,000 registered members. Also it says that qualified parties that have at least 5,000 registrants, but fewer than 50,000 registrants, may nominate by convention instead of by primary. The bill will be heard in committee on Monday, May 8.
On March 1, California SB 568 passed the Senate Appropriations Committee. It moves the primary for all office, in presidential years, from June to March.
The Indiana legislature adjourned for the year on April 22. Not a single election law bill passed. The most interesting election law bill was SB 418, which eased ballot access. It had passed the Senate Elections Committee but then the author, Senator Greg Walker (R-Columbus), withdrew it, although he says he will introduce it in 2018. He says he needs more time to persuade other legislators to support it.
Bills were introduced to tinker around the edges with the straight-ticket device, to authorize ranked-choice voting, and to have Indiana join the National Popular Vote Plan, but none of those bills passed either.
