On May 25, the Senate transferred HB 655 from the Rules Committee to the Elections Committee. It moves all partisan primaries from May to March. The switch in committees probably means that the bill is likely to be considered soon in the House. It had already passed the Senate.
On May 24, the Oregon House passed HB 2927, the National Popular Vote Plan bill. The vote was 34-23. Now it goes to the Senate, where the president of the Senate says he won’t block it, as he has done in past sessions, provided it is amended so that it won’t take effect unless the voters approve. They would vote in November 2018.
On May 23, New York held special elections to fill vacancies in the 30th State Senate district in Manhattan, and the 9th Assembly district on Long Island. The results are here. To see the Assembly election, toggle out of “Senate”.
For the State Senate race in Manhattan, the results by party are: Democratic 95.1%; Republican 2.8%; Reform 2.1%. In November 2016 for this same seat, the percentages were: Democratic 90.5%; Republican 4.7%; Working Families 4.8%.
For the Assembly race, the results by party are: Democratic 52.9%; Republican 30.7%; Conservative 8.4%; Working Families 5.1%; and Independence 2.9%. In November 2016 in this district, the results had been: Republican 58.8%; Democratic 31.3%; Conservative 7.2%; Independence 2.0%; Reform .3%; Taxpayer Rights .4%.
The votes are all counted in the May 9 British Columbia legislative election. The results are: Liberal 43 seats, New Democratic 41 seats, Green 3 seats.
The editorial page editor of the Portland (Maine) Press Herald has this commentary on the May 23 decision of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court on ranked choice voting. The commentary points out the problems that Maine will have in 2018 with no ranked choice voting. It also points out that there appears to be no legal reason why the ranked choice law can’t apply to federal office. Thanks to Rob Richie for the link.
