Delaware Representative Stephanie T. Bolton (D-Christiana) and thirteen other legislators have introduced HB 89. It would move the Delaware primary from September to the fourth Tuesday in April. Delaware already has presidential primaries in April, but primaries for all other office are in September. The bill would set the primaries for all offices, in all election years, in April.

An indirect effect of the bill would be to move the deadline for a new party to qualify from late August, to March. Also, minor party nominating conventions would need to be held before March 15.

The bill would probably be unconstitutional, as applied to new parties trying to qualify in an election year. Not only would the registration drive need to be completed by March; no voter would be allowed to switch parties during February and March, so it would be almost impossible to qualify a new party except during the odd year before the election year. Thanks to ElectionLine for news of this bill.

The bill will have a hearing in the House Administration Committee in the next two weeks.

On March 23, the North Carolina Senate voted to override the gubernatorial veto of HB 100. The House had done the same on March 22, so the bill is now law. It contains two separate subjects. It moves the independent petition deadline for all office, even president, from June to April. And it makes trial court judicial posts partisan instead of non-partisan.

Moving the deadline for independent candidates to April will be held unconstitutional. The U.S. Supreme Court decision Anderson v Celebrezze makes this clear. The legislature was very foolish to make this change, because there is already a federal lawsuit challenging the ballot access laws for independent candidates, and it will be very difficult for the state to defend itself. The case is Leifert v North Carolina State Board of Elections, m.d., 1:17cv-147, filed February 23, 2017.

The legislature was also foolish to provide that independent candidates for trial court judicial posts need a petition of 2% of the number of registered voters. The law for other district offices (legislature and U.S. House) requires independent candidates to submit a petition of 4% of the number of registered voters. The state will be hard-pressed to explain why its needs are satisfied with a 2% petition for some district offices, but a 4% petition for other district offices. Thanks to Kevin Hayes for the news.

The Connecticut Working Families Party almost always nominates candidates who are also Democratic nominees. However, in the upcoming April 25 special election to fill the vacant state house seat in the 7th district in Hartford, the Working Families Party is running someone in opposition to the Democratic nominee.

The Working Families nominee is Joshua M. Hall. The Democratic nominee is Rickey Pinckney. They are the only candidates running. See this story. In the November 2016 election, the only person on the ballot for this seat was Doug McCrory, who was the Democratic nominee but not the nominee of any other party. The Working Families Party did not involve itself in the 7th district in the November 2016 election. The seat is empty because Representative McCrory resigned earlier this year, because he had been elected to the State Senate in a special election in February 2017.