On February 21, the Wyoming House passed SF 98 on second reading. This is the bill that says candidates for school board will have their party membership printed on the ballot, even though parties don’t nominate candidates for this office. The bill had already passed the Senate.
On February 21, the plaintiffs in the federal lawsuit against the California top-two system filed an amended Complaint. See it here. Peace & Freedom Party v Weber, n.d., 3:24cv-08308.
The American Solidarity Party has joined the case. It has run for partisan offices in California, such as Governor, U.S. Senator, Secretary of State, and U.S. House. But because it is not a qualified party, when its members run in the primary, the ballot label is “Party preference: none” even though they are registered members of the American Solidarity Party. Therefore, the case now has a new issue, the ballot label issue.
Seven West Virginia Republican Delegates have introduced HB 2608. It requires independent candidates to file a declaration of candidacy by the second Monday in January of an election year. The sponsors are Rick Hillenbrand, Bill Ridenour, Charles Sheedy, Eric Brooks, Joe Funkhouser, Lisa White, and Margitta Mozzoocchi.
A similar West Virginia law was struck down in 2016 in Daly v Tennant, 216 F Supp 3d 699 (s.d.). The state did not appeal. Also, the Fourth Circuit struck down a similar South Carolina in 1990, in Cromer v State, 917 F 2d 810, and West Virginia is in the Fourth Circuit. Thanks to Jeff Becker for news about the bill.
On February 20, the North Carolina Supreme Court declined to hear the dispute over who won the November 2024 election for Supreme Court Justice. See this story. Now the case will go to the State Appeals Court.
Blake Sasha, an activist with Voter Choice Arizona, has this op-ed in Arizona Capitol Times, criticizing top-two systems because they sharply limit voter choices in general elections. Sasha is a supporter of top-five systems, and a Republican.
