On March 21, the North Dakota House Political Subdivisions Committee killed SB 2183 by a vote of 11-4. This is the bill that had passed the Senate, and which said that no one could circulate an initiative petition in North Dakota unless the individual had lived in the state at least two years.
On March 22, the Idaho House passed SB 1108 by a vote of 45-21. The bill had already passed the Senate. It requires that statewide initiative petitions contain the signatures of 6% of the registered voters in each of 18 of the state’s 35 legislative districts. Current law requires that the petition be signed by 6% of the state’s registered voters, but it doesn’t matter where in the state they live. See this story.
On March 11, the Arizona House passed HB 2518, which allows local elections to use Approval Voting. On March 19, the bill passed the Senate Elections Committee. The vote in the House was a partisan vote, in which Republicans generally supported the bill and Democrats opposed it. Here is a story that explains the bill and why it has substantial support. Thanks to Clay Shentrup for news about the bill.
In the November 2012 election, one Ohio state house district race had disputed election returns. Final figures show that Republican incumbent Al Landis of the 98th district defeated his Democratic opponent, Josh O’Farrell, by eight votes. However, irregularities were charged. The Ohio House will adjudicate the issue. On March 13 a committee was appointed to investigate the details of the vote count problems. See this story, which says the process will take several weeks.
The lawsuit filed by the Alabama Constitution, Green, and Libertarian Parties in 2012, arguing that the March petition deadline for newly-qualifying parties is unconstitutional, had been set for a trial in the late spring of 2013. However, the state requested that it be postponed until September, and the plaintiffs agreed. It is possible that the state believes the ballot access bill now pending in the legislature will pass, which could moot the lawsuit. The bill lowers the number of signatures and also provides for a later petition deadline.
