New York Assemblymember Patrick Burke, a Democrat, has introduced A4094. It would abolish fusion, except for Governor and President. Also it would create an office-group format. New York currently uses a party-column format. The only other states that still have a party-column format are New Hampshire, Connecticut, New Jersey, and Delaware.
New Hampshire Representatives James Russell Muirhead and Jim Maggiore have introduced HB 714, to establish a top-two system. Both are Democrats.
On February 5, the Mississippi House passed HB 38. It changes the order of candidates on general election ballots. Current law puts all the party nominees on the ballot in alphabetical order of surname. Thus, in November 2024, the order of the party nominees for president was Kamala Harris, Chase Oliver, Jill Stein, and Donald Trump. The independent presidential candidates were listed below the party nominees, also in alphabetical order.
The bill says the nominees of parties that got at least 10% of the presidential vote in the last election are listed first on the ballot, again in alphabetical order. The nominees of other parties were be listed next, also in alphabetical order, followed by independent candidates.
The bill passed 93-16. All 16 “no” votes were cast by Democrats.
Two bills have been introduced in the Indiana legislature to abolish the straight-ticket device. They are SB 200 and HB 1560. The Senate sponsors, Mike Gaskill and Eric Bassler, are both Republicans. The three House sponsors are one Republican (Edward Clere) and two Democrats (Wendy Dent Chesser and Carey Hamilton).
Two Republican Minnesota legislators have introduced SB 651, which moves the non-presidential primaries from August to the first Tuesday in March. If the bill were two pass, the presidential primary and the primary for other office would be on the same date. The sponsors are Senators Mark Koran and Jeff Howe.
