On February 20, the last possible day, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo chose May 5 for the special election for the U.S. House seat, 11th district. See this story. He had been told by a U.S. District Court to either set a date by February 20, or explain why he wouldn’t do that. The Governor’s action ends the controversy and the lawsuit.
Two bills have been introduced in the Maryland legislature to move the primary (for president only) from the first Tuesday in April to the second Tuesday in April. They are HB 396 and SB 204. Thanks to Josh Putnam for this news.
On February 20, Michigan Governor Rick Snyder signed SB 44, which moves the presidential primary to the second Tuesday in March. In 2012 the primary had been February 28.
The California, daily newspaper for Salinas, California, has this op-ed by Thomas L. Knapp, criticizing the top-two system for giving the voters only Republican and Democratic candidates in November.
Kansas Representative Steven Johnson (R-Assaria) has introduced HB 2274. It lowers the petition for a newly-qualifying party from 2% of the last gubernatorial vote to 1%. It also expands the petitioning period for such a petition from six months to one year. This bill was introduced at the request of the Green Party, which has never appeared on the Kansas ballot (although Ralph Nader qualified as an independent in Kansas in 2000).
No party has successfully qualified in Kansas since 1996. Thanks to Paul Krumm for the news.
