West Virginia Delegates Pat McGeehan (R-Chester) and Isaac Sponaugle (D-Franklin) have introduced HB 4356. It eases the definition of a qualified political party. Current law says that is a group that polled 1% for Governor. The bill would say that it is a group that polled 1% for any of the statewide state offices, and alternatively that it is also any group with at least 5,000 registered members. Thanks to John Buckley for this news.
On February 1, Arizona HB 2456 passed two House Committees. It passed the Election Committee 5-1, and then it passed the Rules Committee 7-0. HB 2456 is the National Popular Vote Plan bill. See this story, which describes some of the testimony.
Six Republican presidential candidates won at least one delegate from Iowa: Ted Cruz 8, Donald Trump 7, Marco Rubio 7, Ben Carson 3, Rand Paul 1, and Jeb Bush 1.
Former Governor Martin O’Malley is dropping out of the Democratic presidential race. See this story.
Former Governor Mike Huckabee is dropping out of the Republican race. See this story.
On February 1, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to block the Virginia U.S. House redistricting plan drawn up by a three-judge U.S. District Court last year. See this Roll Call story. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.
It is theoretically possible that the U.S. Supreme Court could invalidate those districts later, but after the February 1 action, it seems extremely unlikely the U.S. Supreme Court would do that.
