On December 11, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the bill that funds the government for the next period, and also changes federal campaign finance law to allow bigger donations to political party national committees. However, the larger donation limits only apply to segregated political party funds involving paying for national conventions, lawsuits, and headquarters buildings. See this story.

The bill is likely to pass the Senate as well, because Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid supports it, and President Obama has said he will sign it if it reaches him.

According to this story, a tally of the number of registered voters in Oklahoma as of November 26, 2014, showed 806 more registered Republicans than Democrats. This marks the first time in Oklahoma history that the number of Republican registrants has exceeded the number of Democratic registrants.

The Oklahoma State Elections Board does not normally issue a registration tally more than once a month. The November 1, 2014 tally shows approximately 3,000 more Democrats than Republicans. As of December 11, the Board of Elections’ web page does not include any registration data later than November 1, 2014. Nor has the State Board of Elections issued any press release on this subject since the November 1 tally.

Organizers of the Maine initiative for instant-runoff voting for all federal and state office except President say they have over 45,000 signatures, and they expect to complete the petition by the January 12 deadline. Meeting that deadline means the issue would be on the ballot in November 2015. See this story. Thanks to Thomas MacMillan for the link.