On April 10, the Iowa House again passed HF 516, which repeals the straight-ticket device and makes other unrelated changes as well. The bill had passed both houses of the legislature in March, but the versions of the bill were different in each house, so the House had to pass it again. It still isn’t through the legislature, though, until it passes the Senate one more time.

The Governor is expected to sign the bill. Then, the only states that will still have the device are Alabama, Indiana, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, and Utah. Also in Michigan it was repealed but it still exists because a U.S. District Court Judge blocked the repeal. It is somewhat likely that the Texas legislature will repeal the device this month or next month.

At 4 p.m., the Alaska House Judiciary Committee held a short hearing on HB 200, which imposes a top-two system. The hearing was supposed to start at 1 p.m., but it couldn’t start then because the House was unexpectedly in session in the afternoon.

Because there was so little time for a hearing, no one from the public was allowed to testify.

The sponsor, Representative Gabrielle Ledoux, said that four states have top-two and that it came about by the initiative process in all four states. This is not accurate. The California top-two idea was put on the ballot by the legislature. Louisiana does not have top-two; instead it has abolished primaries and only has general elections in November and sometimes a run-off after November; in any event Louisiana does not have the initiative process. Finally, Nebraska does not have a top-two system either. It has semi-closed primaries for congress, and state executive offices, and county partisan offices, and a completely non-partisan elections (with no party labels) for legislature.

Another hearing will be held on Wednesday, April 12, probably at 1 p.m.

When public testimony is allowed, individuals in several population centers may testify by video, even if they aren’t there in person in Juneau.

On March 30, the Kentucky Secretary of State asked the U.S. Supreme Court not to hear Libertarian Party of Kentucky v Grimes, 16-1034. Here is the state’s brief. The issue is Kentucky’s restrictive method on how unqualified parties may become qualified. Kentucky is one of only two states in which it impossible for a party to become ballot-qualified unless it makes a certain showing in a presidential race. The other such state is Washington.

The state’s brief makes much out of the fact that after the lawsuit had been filed, the Kentucky Libertarian Party became ballot-qualified in November 2016, by the vote for Gary Johnson. However, ballot access cases, especially at the U.S. Supreme Court level, do not hinge on developments that occurred after the case was filed. The Court knows that the issue will recur for all current and future new and minor parties.

The Court has not yet set a conference date for this case. New U.S. Supreme Court member Neil Gorsuch will be working on the court by the time the Court holds a conference on this case and decides whether to hear it.