On January 12, the Kansas House passed HB 2017, which eases ballot access in special U.S. House elections. The vote was 122-1. Now the bill goes to the Senate.
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On January 5, Nebraska Senator John Murante (R-Gretna) again introduced his bill to provide that Nebraska choose all its presidential electors with an at-large vote. This year his proposal is LB 25. He has tried several times in the past to pass this bill, which would end the system in which each U.S. House district elects its own presidential elector.
The Federal Election Commission had planned to vote today on whether to revoke the exemption on reporting campaign donations and expenditures for the Socialist Workers Party. However, that vote has been postponed; no new date has been set yet.
Here is the January 5, 2017 recommendation from the FEC’s staff that the SWP no longer enjoy the exemption. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the news and the link.
On January 11, the Kansas House Elections Committee passed HB 2017, although the bill was amended so it isn’t as favorable as originally introduced. Currently Kansas has no procedure for a qualified minor party to nominate anyone in special U.S. House elections, and requires approximately 14,000 signatures for an independent.
The bill provides that all qualified parties may nominate a candidate. It also changes the independent candidate petition to exactly 3,000. The original bill set it at 1,000. If the bill passes, it takes effect immediately. Kansas is likely to have a special U.S. House election in the spring of 2017, because one of the state’s House members will probably join the cabinet, leaving his seat empty. Thanks to Mark Johnson for this news.
The U.S. Supreme Court has put Sarvis v Alcorn, 16-781, on its February 17 conference. This is the case over whether Virginia can constitutionally always put the Democratic and Republican nominees at the top of the ballot. The Court won’t release any information about whether it will take this case until February 21 at the earliest.
So far the state has waived its right to file a response. If the Court is interested in this case, it will probably ask the state to respond before February 17.