According to this story, Mark McKinnon, former chief media strategist to President George W. Bush, said on National Public Radio on September 17 that if Donald Trump wins the Republican nomination, Republican leaders who oppose Trump should consider qualifying an independent ticket. McKinnon suggested Mitt Romney might be such a candidate.
According to this story, North Carolina Republican legislators are expected to pass the bill moving the May primary (for office other than President) to March.
Texas does not have the statewide initiative. But it does have an obscure procedure in its election code for a group to petition for a statewide measure in a party primary. The procedure has existed since 1907, but apparently has never been used.
The Texas Nationalist Movement hopes to use the procedure, and to put a question on the March 2016 Texas Republican primary ballot asking if the party should endorse independence for Texas. See this story. The law requires a petition signed by 10% of the last primary turnout. The Texas Republican primary turnout was so low that only 66,894 signatures are needed, by December 2015. The group started circulating in August and hopes to succeed. The group’s web page is thetnm.org.
Party organizations can also put questions on a party primary ballot without the need for a petition, and Texas Republicans do that fairly often. The leadership of the Republican Party does not support the idea of secession for Texas and will probably try to prevent the question from appearing on the party’s primary ballot if it can. Thanks to Jim Goodluck for the link and to Jim Riley for explaining the Texas law, which is in sections 172.087 and 172.088.
Duluth, Minnesota voters will be deciding on November 3, 2015 if they want to begin using instant runoff voting for city elections. Here is a news story about the ballot question.
Truth in Media has this interview conducted by Joshua Cook, with Gary Johnson. Johnson says he hopes to be the Libertarian Party presidential nominee in 2016.
