Bills to Convert Montana Primaries from Open to Closed

Posted on by January 24, 2025
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Montdana has always had open primaries. Two legislators have asked the Legislative Staff to draft bills to convert Montana to a closed primary state. The identity of the two legislators is not known. The Montana legislature’s website lists proposed bills but does not identify which legislator asked for the draft. The labels for the two proposals are LC 2554 and LC 3237.

There is also a draft underway for a bill to change the primary date to an earlier date. The Montana presidential primary is now in June, very late in the season.

Florida Governor Asks Legislature to Lower Candidate Filing Fees

Posted on by January 24, 2025
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Florida currently has the highest filing fees of any state. The current law requires the filing fee itself to be 3% of the annual salary of the office; in addition there is a “election asessment” of another 1%; and if the candidate is seeking a party nomination, still another fee of 2% called the “party assessment”. That totals 6% for candidates seeking to run with a party label. No other state has a fee above 2%, except Georgia requires 3%.

Governor Ron DeSantis has submitted a list of proposed election law changes, including lowering the fee itself from 3% to 1%, and also lowering the party assessment from 2% to 1%. The Governor does not propose changing the “election assessment” fee. So the total fee would drop from 6% to 3%.

His idea also includes making it far more difficult to petition for an initiative. Signers would need to visit and election office, or rqeuest a blank petition form, in order to sign a petition.

West Virginia Supreme Court Will Decide Which Party May Fill a Vacancy in the State House

Posted on by January 24, 2025
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The West Virginia Supreme Court has agreed to hear West Virginia Democratic Party v Roger Hanshaw, 25-22. The issue is which party may submit suggestions to the Governor for filling a vacancy in the State House of Delegates. In November 2024 Republican Joseph deSoto was elected, but then he was charged with a serious crime, and he was removed. However, before he was removed, he changed his registration to “Democratic”. Under the law and precedent, when there is a vacancy in the legislature, the Governor appoints someone. There is no special election. But the Governor must appoint one of three individuals whose name had been suggested by the party of which the outgoing legislator was a member.

The Democratic Party says it doesn’t matter that deSoto was elected as a Republican; he was a Democrat when he resigned. Nevertheless, Governor Pat Morrisey has already filled the seat with one of the three suggestions submitted by the Republican Party. See this story.

Iowa Bill to Ease Definition of a Qualified Political Party

Posted on by January 24, 2025
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Iowa State Senator Jeff Taylor (R-Sioux Center) has introduced SB 70, to ease the definition of a qualified party. Existing law says a party must poll 2% for the office at the top of the ticket every two years (President in presidential years, Governor in midterm years). The bill would change that to a group that had polled 2% for any statewide office at either of the last two elections, or which has at least 2,000 registered voters.

New York Times Front Page Story on Libertarian Party Involvement with Ulbricht Pardon

Posted on by January 24, 2025
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The January 24 print edition of the New York Times has a front-page story titled, “Pardon is Won by Leveraging Trump’s Needs”, with a subtitle, “Libertarians Help Free Online Drug Kingpin.”

The first sentence is, “In December 2023, Angela McArdle, the chair of the Libertarian Party, flew to Mar-a-Lago to meet with Donald J. Trump.” Although the article goes on to say other groups were also working to free Ulbricht, the story makes the Libertarian Party a key element.

The Libertarian Party is 53 years old, and this is probably the first time a story about the party has appeared on the paper’s front page. Here is a link to the story, but it is behind a paywall.