Reboot Illinois is about to launch a petition drive to place an initiative on the November 2016 ballot that would set up a nonpartisan commission to draw legislative district boundaries. See this story. The group tried in 2014 but did not get enough signatures. The Constitution requires approximately 290,000 valid signatures. The group will attempt to collect 600,000. The proposed initiative would only concern legislative districts, not U.S. House districts.

Montana SB 279 has become law. It provides that in November 2016, the voters will vote on whether they want to amend the election law, to require a special election for U.S. Senate, when a seat becomes vacant. Current law lets the Governor appoint someone who holds the office until the next regularly-scheduled election.

The legislature could have simply passed an ordinary law making the same change, as was done this year in North Dakota. But apparently the Republican-majority legislature thought the Governor, who is a Democrat, might veto the bill. So they passed the idea as a referendum, which doesn’t need approval by the Governor. It seems overwhelmingly likely that the voters will approve the idea next year.