On March 7, the New York Senate Elections Committee passed SB 218, which eliminates residency requirements for candidate petitioners, except that it still requires them to live in New York state.

District residency requirements for petitioners in New York were declared unconstitutional in federal and state court almost ten years ago, and this bill attempts to update the election code to reflect those court decisions.

The Senate Elections Committee on March 7 also passed SB 2792, which removes party logos from general election ballots. This is one step toward making it possible for New York ballots to become more orderly. Currently New York ballot design is so bad, some candidates (always independent candidates, or the nominees of unqualified parties) are in such obscure corners of the ballot, many voters can’t find them.

Emmanuel Macron, an independent candidate for President of France, is leading in at least one public opinion poll, according to this story. The election is April 23. If no one gets 50%, there is a run-off two weeks later. In second place is Marine LePen of the National Front, a party that has shown considerable strength during the past decade, but which has never elected the President of France.

The nominees of the two major parties are trailing.

On March 8, the Federal Election Commission issued this press release, saying the FEC won’t appeal the February 1 decision of a U.S. District Court in Level the Playing Field v FEC. That is the decision that ordered the FEC to closely examine whether the Commission on Presidential Debates is breaking federal campaign finance law. Thanks to Shawn Griffiths for the link.