Oregon State Senator Fred Girod (R-Stayton) has introduced SB 392, to move the primaries for all office from May to March, in presidential years. This is probably motivated by a desire to have Oregon’s presidential primary play a bigger role in the major party presidential nomination process.
On February 13, the South Dakota House passed HB 1169. It requires initiatives for constitutional amendments to get the signatures of 5% of the last gubernatorial vote in each legislative district. South Dakota has 35 legislative districts. Currently there is no distribution requirement for such petitions.
All six Democrats voted against the bill. Also three Republicans voted against it: Roger DeGroot, Mike Weisgram, and Mike Stevens.
Ohio State Senator William DeMora (D-Franklin) has introduced SB 37, to move the primaries for all office in presidential years from March to May. If the bill passed, that would automatically move the petition deadline for non-presidential independent candidates from March to May.
The Wyoming Senate Corporations Committee did not hear HB 173 at its meeting on February 14. It will be heard on Wednesday, February 19. This is the bill that makes ballot access for independent candidates significantly more restrictive.
Representative Molly Jenkins (R-Coyle) has introduced HB 1010. Originally it said if a party’s national convention nominates someone for President who lost the Oklahoma presidential primary, then that party must pay whatever the state spent on that party’s presidential primary. If the party did not pay, it could not have a presidential primary in the next election.
On February 11, the House Elections & Ethics Committee passed the bill, after amending it to say the payment is not required if the person who won the Oklahoma presidential primary placed second or lower in the national delegate count and that candidate had released his or her delegates.
If enacted, the bill would be unconstitutional. The U.S. Supreme Court three times during the 1970-1982 period said state laws cannot intrude on the activities of national presidential conventions.
