On March 18, the Vermont omnibus election law bill was amended to delete a provision that would have made it more difficult for parties to nominate candidates. The original bill abolished the ability of a party that has its own primary to nominate someone by party meeting after the primary, in case no one had won that party’s primary for that office. But the amended bill no longer has that provision. The Vermont Progressive Party worked to bring about this outcome. The bill is HB 477.
On March 18, the Alabama Senate Constitution, Ethics & Elections Committee passed SB 221, the bill that eases ballot access for newly-qualifying parties and independent candidates. The vote was 4-2. The only Democrat who was present, Linda Coleman, voted for the bill. Five Republican Senators were present, and three of them voted for the bill. The two Republicans who voted against the bill were Chairman Bill Hightower and Phil Williams. The bill now goes to the Senate Rules Committee.
Ballot access bills have passed this committee in the past. In 2013, SB 265 passed its first committee on April 4, but it didn’t advance any further. In 2011, SB 17 passed this committee on March 8, but then it was blocked in the Senate Rules Committee. Thanks to Joshua Cassity for this news and for the rollcall vote, set out in his comment.
Level the Playing Field is the group that asked the Federal Election Commission late last year to require the Commission on Presidential Debates to expand entry into the general election presidential debates. Level the Playing Field has been working hard to garner publicity and to get endorsements from influential individuals. The Associated Press article is here, and here is a different article in The Hill.
This interesting article from the Times of Israel has a picture of Israeli ballots, and explains the voting procedure. Thanks to Steve Chessin for the link.
On March 17, the Third Circuit heard Balsam v Guadagno, the case in which some New Jersey voters argue that they do not wish to join either the Democratic or the Republican Party, yet they feel that the primary election is so important, they are unjustly deprived of political power by not being allowed to vote in the primaries of those parties.
The Third Circuit web page now has a link to the 30-minute oral argument.
