On March 3, the Washington State Senate passed SB 5978, which provides for a presidential primary on the 2nd Tuesday of March. Current law provides for a presidential primary in May, but more times than not the state doesn’t actually hold a presidential primary, for budgetary reasons. Thanks to Jim Riley and Josh Putnam for this news.
Mississippi holds all its regularly-scheduled elections for state office in November of the odd year before presidential election years.
According to this story, the Reform Party and the Libertarian Party have a few candidates, along with many Democratic and Republican candidates, of course.
Here is the Montana Republican Party’s brief in Ravalli County Republican Central Committee v McCulloch, now pending in the Ninth Circuit. The issue is whether the state can force the Republican Party to choose its precinct committee officers in a primary in which any voter may participate. The U.S. District Court had refused to enjoin the law, so the Republican Party is asking the Ninth Circuit for relief.
The state has been given permission to delay its response until April 29.
On March 3, the Idaho Senate passed SB 1066, which gives Idaho a presidential primary on the 2nd Tuesday of March. The bill retains the existing May primary date for office other than President. Thanks to Josh Putnam for this news.
James J. Ryan has this article, advocating proportional representation, at the Independent Voters Network blog. IVN was founded by proponents of the top-two idea, but it has been branching out this year and carrying articles about other election systems. Thanks to James Ogle for the link.
