On March 16, the Minnesota House Government Operations & Elections Policy Committee heard HB 2735, which would set up a presidential primary in Minnesota. The bill provides that it would be the first Tuesday of March. The bill would not change the existing August primary for other office. Currently Minnesota and Washington are the most populous states that use caucuses instead of presidential primaries. See this story.
This interesting news story describes how Arizona State Senator Sylvia Allen tried to persuade her audience to support the National Popular Vote Plan bill. Allen is a conservative Republican who supports the plan. She was speaking to a meeting of the Gila County Republican Party. The Arizona legislature is considering the idea, and the bill, HB 2456, has already passed the House.
Oregon election officials are sending a letter to all registered independent voters, explaining that if such voters wish to vote in the May 2016 primary (which includes a presidential primary), they have three choices: (1) do nothing, in which case that voter can only have a non-partisan primary ballot for non-partisan offices and ballot questions; (2) join either the Republican or Democratic Party; (3) request an Independent Party primary ballot. Of the three parties entitled to their own primary, only the Independent Party lets independents vote in its primary.
This article shows the text of the letter, toward the bottom.
The qualified parties not mentioned in the letter nominate by convention, not primary. They are the Libertarian, Green, Constitution, Working Families, and Progressive Parties.
On March 16, the individual who had challenged John Kasich’s ballot access petition in Pennsylvania withdrew his challenge. Therefore, Kasich is on the ballot. See this story. Thanks to the commenters who alerted me to this story.
Late in the day on March 16, the U.S. Supreme Court asked attorneys for Montana’s Secretary of State to respond to the Republican Party’s request for relief from the open primary. This shows that the Court is taking the Republican Party’s lawsuit seriously. The Republican Party of Montana objects to being forced to use an open primary, because the party says Democrats are voting in the Republican primary. Thanks to Rick Hasen for this news.
