On February 1, the Wyoming House committee that hears election law bills defeated HB 201, which would have set up Wyoming’s first presidential primaries. See this story.
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On February 1, the Canadian government headed by Justin Trudeau said it will not proceed with plans for a referendum on whether to use either proportional representation or ranked-choice voting. See this story. Thanks to Thomas MacMillan for the link.
On February 1, 2017, the Eleventh Circuit upheld the March 2016 U.S. District Court decision that struck down Georgia’s ballot access barrier for minor party and independent presidential candidates. That March 2016 lower court decision said requiring approximately 50,000 signatures for president is unconstitutionally high, given the facts and historical record in Georgia. UPDATE: here is an Atlanta Journal-Constitution story about the decision.
The Eleventh Circuit did not write its own opinion. It just entered a two-sentence order saying the U.S. District Court decision is correct. The U.S. District Court decision is reported now: Green Party of Georgia v Kemp, 171 F.Supp 3d 1340 (n.d. 2016).
This decision will be very helpful in the new struggle needed in Florida for presidential ballot access. Florida had had very easy presidential ballot access starting in 1999, until August 2016, when the Florida Secretary of State changed his mind and said he would enforce a 2011 ballot access law that his predecessor had refused to implement. That 2011 Florida law said qualified minor parties could not be on for President unless they submitted over 100,000 valid signatures or unless the Federal Election Commission had awarded “national committee” status to that particular party. The Secretary of State in 2011 had said he would not enforce that law because he had no official knowledge of which parties the FEC had recognized. But in August 2016 that decision was revoked, which kept Gloria La Riva, Evan McMullin, and Thomas Hoefling off the Florida ballot, with no warning.
Florida is in the Eleventh Circuit along with Georgia and Alabama, so Eleventh Circuit’s decision binds Florida also.
Iowa Representative Greg Heartsill (R-Chariton) has introduced HF 6, which deletes the state income tax check-off that benefits qualified parties. It lets taxpayers send $1.50 to the political party of the taxpayer’s choice. Checking the box does not increase the taxpayer’s tax payment.
On January 31, the bill passed a subcommittee of the House State Government. The vote was 2-1. The two Republicans voted for the bill; the one Democrat voted against it. If the bill passes, it takes it effect with 2017 tax returns. The Libertarian Party gained party status in November 2016 for the first time. It is not known if the motivation for the bill is to injure the Libertarian Party.
The last time a third party participated in the program was in 2002, when the Green Party was on the form. The Green Party received $3,210 during 2003 (from 2002 tax returns); Democrats received $67,140 and Republicans $70,321 that year. Thanks to John Deeth for this news.
The Kansas Libertarian Party will choose a nominee for U.S. House, 4th district (special election) on February 11. Any registered Libertarian who attends will be permitted to vote for the nominee. See this story. By contrast, the Democratic and Republican Party nominating conventions only allow party officers to vote.