On December 9, the text of the congressional bill that would fund the federal government was released. It contains a surprise provision that would make it possible for individuals to give substantially more money to national committees of political parties than the current law allows. Currently individuals cannot give more than $32,400 per year to the national committee of a political party.

The budget rider would allow much larger contributions, but only if the money were donated for one of three purposes: (1) to defray expenses of national conventions; (2) to defray expenses incurred with respect to the construction, purchase, renovation, operation, and furnishing of one or more headquarters buildings of the party or to repay loans the proceeds of which were used to defray such expenses, or otherwise to restore funds used to defray such expenses (including expenses for obligations incurred during the 2-year period which ends on the date of the enactment of this paragraph); (3) to defray expenses incurred with respect to the preparation for and the conduct of election recounts and contests and other legal proceedings.

Although many news stories about this bill imply that the bill only applies to the Democratic and Republican National Committees, the bill actually applies to all political parties recognized by the Federal Election Commission as “national committees.” They include the Libertarian, Green, Constitution, Socialist, Natural Law, and Reform Parties.

The bill is expected to pass Congress this week. Thanks to Dan Tokaji for the link.

Hobbs, New Mexico, held an election on December 9, for the sole purpose of letting voters decide whether to require voters at the polls to show government photo-ID. It passed 78%-22%. See this story. The measure says the city will pay the costs of obtaining such ID for residents who don’t have it. The measure only impacts elections for city office.

The measure’s path to the Hobbs ballot was long and complicated. The city allows initiatives to change city ordinances, and proponents of photo-ID were told how many signatures they needed. They obtained those signatures, but then it was discovered that the measure could not be a legitimate ordinance, because it changed the city charter. Therefore, the petition was invalid. The city council then voted to put the measure on the ballot.

Hobbs is the county seat and largest town in Lea County, in southeast New Mexico.

On November 4, Indiana independent candidate Mark Smith was elected to the Montgomery County Council in district 3. Here is a link to the election returns. Click on the link that says, “2014 General Final Election Returns.” The results are: Mark Smith, independent, 1,229 votes; Gayle Lough, Republican, 1,183 votes.

Montgomery County is in west central Indiana. The largest town and county seat is Crawfordsville.

Independent candidates are very rare in Indiana. Indiana is one of only three states in which no independent candidate has ever appeared on the ballot for statewide office, other than president (the other two such states are North Carolina and New Mexico). Indiana greatly disadvantages independent candidates because it has a straight-ticket device. Independent candidates do not have their own straight-ticket device. Furthermore, independent candidates are put in the extreme far-right column, a column which has no logo. The party columns have a party logo.

The election was close, but not in the range in which a recount would normally be requested (the percentages work out to 51%-49%). Nevertheless, the local Republican Party has requested a recount. See this story.