Three Minnesota legislators have introduced SF 335 and HF 367, which would permit any city to use Ranked-Choice Voting for its own local elections. Currently, only charter cities are free to make that decision for themselves. The sponsors are Senator Steve Simon (DFL-St. Louis Park), Senator Ann Rest (DFL-New Hope), and Representative Tim Kelly (R-Red Wing). Thanks to Bob Richard for this news.
North Carolina Senator E. S. “Buck” Newton (R-Wilson) has introduced SB 82, to abolish the straight-ticket device. Bills are now pending to abolish straight-ticket devices in Indiana, Iowa, North Carolina, and Rhode Island. Thanks to Kevin Hayes for this news.
The Bangor Daily News has this story about the bill to use Ranked-Choice Voting in Maine elections for Congress and state office. Thanks to Thomas MacMillan for the link.
Gabriel Gomez, one of the Republicans planning to run for U.S. Senate in the June Massachusetts special election, has signed a contract with a paid petitioning firm to get him on the primary ballot. The 10,000 valid signatures are due February 27. See this story, which says that the contract will be in excess of $100,000. The paid petitioning company, Spoonworks, is run by Harold Hubschman, who was an expert witness on the side of the state of Illinois in last month’s lawsuit over the constitutionality of Illinois ballot access in special elections.
The Oklahoma Senate Rules Committee will hear SB 668 on Wednesday, February 13, at 10 a.m. SB 668 is one of the ballot access reform bills pending, but it is by far the weaker of the two. All it does is reduce the number of signatures for a newly-qualifying party in midterm years, from 5% of the last presidential vote, to 5% of the last gubernatorial vote. Turnouts in mid-term years are typically 30% lower than in presidential years, so the bill would reduce the 2014 requirement from 66,744 valid signatures to 51,739 valid signatures. Thanks to E. Zachary Knight for this news.
