On February 13, the Maryland House passed HB 41. It moves the petition deadline from the first Monday in August to the first Monday in July. Also it says if the petition is rejected for not having enough signatures, the group must start all over again, and can’t supplement the original petition.
The Forward Party sent a witness to testify against the bill.
On March 4, the West Virginia Senate passed SB 490, which prevents any local government from using ranked choice voting for its own elections. Only two Senators voted “no.”
On February 28, the Hawaii State House Finance Committee passed HB 134. It lets candidates file their declaration of candidacy and petition electronically.
The U.S. Supreme Court will consider whether to hear Miller v Nelson, 24-854, at its March 21, 2025 conference. This is the lawsuit that challenges virtually all of Texas’ ballot access laws for minor parties and independent candidates.
On February 24, Cornel West filed this brief in U.S. District Court in Ortiz v North Carolina State Board of Elections, e.d., 5:24cv-420. West won injunctive relief last year and he and his party were placed on the ballot. Now he hopes to obtain a ruling that the Board’s actions last year were unconstitutional. That would protect petitioning minor parties in the future from being told that even though the county boards said they had enough valid signatures, the petition would not be honored.
