Within the Liberal Party of Canada (one of Canada’s two largest parties) there are activists who want their party to officially endorse proportional representation. They have organized to persuade their party to endorse it. See here for their webpage. Thanks to Thomas Jones for the link.
The Florida Secretary of State’s webpage no longer lists Americans Elect as a ballot-qualified party. Presumably this is because the state officers told the Secretary of State that the party no longer wishes to be recognized. Because Florida permits a party to be ballot-qualified just by submitting a list of officers and bylaws, any party is free to eliminate itself at any time.
The Socialist Party is no longer listed either.
On January 31, Tennessee State Senator Jim Kyle (D-Memphis), the leader of the Democrats in the State Senate, introduced SB 1091. It lowers the number of signatures for a newly-qualifying party from 2.5% of the last gubernatorial vote to exactly 1,000 signatures. Thanks to Daniel Lewis for this news.
On February 1, the Montana House passed HB 30, which ends election-day registration. The new deadline for registration would be the Friday before the election. See this story. The vote was 60-38, which is less than two-thirds support. Assuming the bill passes the Senate, Democratic Governor Steve Bullock will probably veto the bill just as the past Governor, Democrat Brian Schweitzer, vetoed a similar bill in 2011.
On January 31, the Montana House passed HB 120 by a vote of 70-28. That is the bill that makes three ballot access improvements: (1) expanding who can run for President and Vice-President as an independent; (2) moving the petition deadline for non-presidential independent candidates from March to May; (3) letting all qualified parties hold a primary if there is a contest for any office. HB 120 is the Secretary of State’s omnibus election law bill and has many other provisions unrelated to ballot access.
North Carolina Representatives Marvin Lucas (D-Spring Lake) and Elmer Floyd (D-Fayetteville) have introduced HB 38, which would abolish run-off partisan primaries. Thanks to Kevin Hayes for this news.
