On May 12, the Missouri legislature passed HJR 53 and HB 1631. If these bills become law, then in November 2016 the voters will be asked if they wish to amend the Missouri Constitution to allow the legislature to require certain kinds of government photo-ID for voters at the polls.
It is somewhat likely that these bills will be vetoed by Governor Jay Nixon, who is a Democrat. But it is also likely that the legislature will then override the veto. See this story. Thanks to Ken Bush for the link.
Once again, an Illinois statewide initiative to create an independent redistricting commission (to draw state legislative districts) is fighting to get on the ballot. See this story. Although the initiative has twice as many signatures as are required, it is being challenged on the basis that the Illinois Constitution does not permit initiatives on this subject.
Illinois has had the statewide initiative since 1979, but in all those years, only one initiative has ever appeared on the ballot. That is because the state constitution only permits initiatives that affect the legislature. The initiative that qualified eliminated cumulative voting and multi-member districts for the Illinois House. Thanks to Jan Tucker for the link.
This year, many U.S. voters are telling pollsters and other news sources that they intend to cast a write-in vote for President in November. The Richmond Times-Dispatch has this story, explaining to Virginia voters that only presidential write-ins cast for a declared write-in candidate will be tallied. Virginia is typical in that regard.
This Politico story says many influential Republican Party leaders are determined to do what they can to establish closed primaries in more states. These Republicans, who mostly seem to dislike Donald Trump, blame open primaries for helping Trump win the nomination.
Jon Keyser, one of the leading candidates for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate in Colorado, is on the August primary ballot. However, his spot is being challenged by activists who say they have identified ten voters whose signatures are on the petition, but who say they didn’t sign it. See this story. Thanks to PoliticalWire for the link.
