According to this story, the Idaho Constitution Party will have a presidential primary next year. The focus of the story is Rev. Scott A. Copeland, who is seeking the party’s presidential nomination and who is campaigning around the nation. He lives in Texas.
According to this story, the Virginia Republican Party may not hold a presidential primary next year. In Virginia, parties may decide for themselves whether to use primaries or conventions for any partisan office.
On March 10, Pennsylvania Representative Keith Greiner (R-Lancaster) introduced HB 1318. It moves the primary in presidential years, for all office, from April to mid-March. Here is the text of the bill. If enacted, the bill would have no impact on petition deadlines for independent candidates and the nominees of unqualified parties. Thanks to Josh Putnam of FrontloadingHQ for this news.
This wikipedia article has the preliminary popular vote for the June 7 congressional election in Mexico. The official results will be released soon, and then it will be possible to know how many seats each party won.
On June 8, Ohio Governor John Kasich signed HB 153, which moves the primary for all office (in presidential years) from the first Tuesday after the first Monday in March, to the second Tuesday after the first Monday in March.
As a result, the 2016 primary moves from March 8 to March 15. That also moves the petition deadline for non-presidential independents from March 7 to March 14. Thanks to Josh Putnam for this news.
Also on June 8, Kansas Governor Sam Brownback signed HB 2104, the omnibus election law bill that eliminates the Kansas presidential primary. Kansas hasn’t actually held a presidential primary since 1992, because the budget never had enough money for it in subsequent years and the legislature would always pass a bill suspending it for the upcoming election. So, realistically, this isn’t a meaningful change. Other states that won’t hold a presidential primary for any party in 2016 are Alaska, Colorado, Hawaii, Iowa, Maine, Minnesota, Nevada, North Dakota, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming. There is still a tiny chance that the special session of the Washington state legislature could restore a presidential primary.
