On February 19, Arizona SB 1388 passed the Senate Elections Committee unanimously. It says that candidates for statewide office and legislature would be permitted to collect signatures electronically. In Arizona, all candidates for partisan office (except presidential candidates running in a presidential primary) need petitions, whether they are aiming at a primary ballot or the general election ballot.

The bill has 9 sponsors, one Democrat (Steve Farley), and these eight Republicans: Richard Crandall, Michele Reagan, Steve Pierce, Bob Worsley, Adam Driggs, Chester Crandell, Steve Yarbrough, and Kimberly Yee.

Voters in the New Orleans area voted on November 6, 2012, on whether bridge tolls should remain on a crossing over the Mississippi River. The vote for tolls passed by only 36 votes. But then it was discovered that provisional ballots did not include the ballot measure, so the vote has been invalidated and a new vote will be held in May. See this story.

Since 1954, the Michigan Liquor Control Commission has had a regulation making it illegal for a business with a liquor license to display a sign indicating support for a candidate or a political party. However, the ACLU sued in federal court last October, and the Commission has now eliminated that regulation. The case was Contreras v Deloney, eastern district, 2:2012-cv-14616. It was dismissed on December 28, 2012, after the Commission promised to end the regulation. Thanks to Thomas Jones for this news.