On March 17, the Idaho legislature passed HB 197, which sets up procedures for parties to nominate candidates in special U.S. House elections. The bill provides for primaries for that purpose. The old law did not specify any method for parties to nominate in such elections.
On March 9, the Iowa House passed HF 516, which abolishes the straight-ticket device. The bill has many other provisions, and is now in the Senate.
On March 14, the Democratic presidential electors who had sued to overturn a Washington state law that fines “disobedient” electors dropped their lawsuit. Their court papers do not explain why they dropped it. The case is Chiafalo v Inslee, w.d., 2:16cv-1886.
Somewhat similar lawsuits are still pending in federal courts in California, Colorado, and Minnesota.
This New York Post story says Rocky De La Fuente has announced that he is seeking the Republican nomination for Mayor of New York City. Thanks to Frank Morano for the link.
On March 17, Utah Governor Gary Herbert signed SB 13, which moves the petition deadline for newly-qualifying parties to November of the year before the election. Herbert is a Republican. The Republican Party was formed on July 6, 1854, and went on to win a plurality in the U.S. House in the fall 1854 elections. In 2000 the United States State Department filed a protest with Azerbaijan for its new election law that required parties to be in existence for six months before the election.
It is likely a lawsuit will be filed against this new law, perhaps as early as 2018. No reported decision anywhere in the U.S. upholds a deadline for a new party petition earlier than April of an election year. It is true that the lawsuit Stein v Chapman, against the Alabama March deadline, did not result in a victory, but that was because all the plaintiffs’ evidence was excluded due to a technicality.
