Georgia holds a special U.S. House election on April 18. So far, five Republicans, two Democrats, and one independent has filed, although filing doesn’t close until one p.m. on February 15. See this story. Georgia special U.S. House elections are non-partisan and parties don’t have nominees, although any candidate can have a party label on the ballot. No candidate needs a petition in Georgia special elections.
There are two bills pending in the Oklahoma legislature to ease ballot access for independent presidential candidates. The more far-reaching bill cuts the number of signatures to 5,000, and proposes a filing fee alternative of $5,000. That bill is by legislative leaders Senator David Holt (SB 351) and Representative Jon Echols (HB 1563).
Also, there is the proposal of the State Board of Elections, which lowers the number of signatures for an independent presidential candidate from 3% of the last presidential vote, to 3% of the last gubernatorial vote. If that were enacted, the number of signatures for 2016 would have been 24,745 instead of 40,047. That bill, SB 145, is authored by Senator Eddie Fields. It also has a filing fee alternative to the petition, but it is ambiguous: $2,500 for each candidate for presidential elector. The bill, and existing law, does not require an independent presidential candidate to run a full slate of presidential elector candidates. But if a full slate were required, the full fee would be $17,500, because Oklahoma has 7 electoral votes. Even a fee that high would probably be cheaper than gathering 24,745 valid signatures.
On February 14, Representative Echols became a co-sponsor of SB 145, and on February 8, Senator Holt because a co-sponsor, which suggests that this is the bill most likely to move. The bill retains the July 15 petition deadline, but it seems that if a candidate will be permitted to get on the ballot with a fee, there is no reason for the deadline to be that early. Evan McMullin did not declare his candidacy until August 8, 2016.
Maine Representative Stacey Guerin (R-Glenburn) has introduced LD 53, to make it illegal to pay initiative circulators on a per-signature basis. The bill is very carelessly worded. Usually bills to do this are careful to specify that initiative proponents are free to award bonuses to high-performing circulators, but this bill simply bans all payment on the basis of how many signatures were collected, without discussing the nuances.
If the bill passes, it must then get a popular vote in 2018, because it is a constitutional amendment. Thanks to several people for the news.
Utah Representative Rebecca Chavez-Houck (D-Salt Lake City) has introduced HB 349. It provides that ranked-choice voting (also known as instant runoff voting) would be used for all partisan office in primaries. Thanks to Brendan Phillips for this news.
On February 14, the New Hampshire House Elections Committee defeated HB 384, which would have set up a committee to study the state’s ballot access laws. All the Republicans on the Committee voted against the bill; all the Democrats supported the bill. Republicans have a majority in the New Hampshire House. Thanks to Darryl Perry for this news.
