On January 25, Angela McArdle, Libertarian National Committee chair, said she is resigning. See this report on Independent Political Report.
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Oklahoma State Senator Lonnie Paxton (R-Tuttle), the leader of the State Senate, has introduced SB 656. It would change the composition of the State Election Board. Currently, it has three Republican and two Democratic members. The bill, in effect, would change that to three Republicans, one Democrat, and one individual who is not a member of either major party.
Existing law does not say that Republicans automatically get three seats, but in practice that is inevitable because of the selection process. Thanks to Chris Powell for this news. Here is the text of the bill.
Montdana has always had open primaries. Two legislators have asked the Legislative Staff to draft bills to convert Montana to a closed primary state. The identity of the two legislators is not known. The Montana legislature’s website lists proposed bills but does not identify which legislator asked for the draft. The labels for the two proposals are LC 2554 and LC 3237.
There is also a draft underway for a bill to change the primary date to an earlier date. The Montana presidential primary is now in June, very late in the season.
Florida currently has the highest filing fees of any state. The current law requires the filing fee itself to be 3% of the annual salary of the office; in addition there is a “election asessment” of another 1%; and if the candidate is seeking a party nomination, still another fee of 2% called the “party assessment”. That totals 6% for candidates seeking to run with a party label. No other state has a fee above 2%, except Georgia requires 3%.
Governor Ron DeSantis has submitted a list of proposed election law changes, including lowering the fee itself from 3% to 1%, and also lowering the party assessment from 2% to 1%. The Governor does not propose changing the “election assessment” fee. So the total fee would drop from 6% to 3%.
His idea also includes making it far more difficult to petition for an initiative. Signers would need to visit and election office, or rqeuest a blank petition form, in order to sign a petition.
The West Virginia Supreme Court has agreed to hear West Virginia Democratic Party v Roger Hanshaw, 25-22. The issue is which party may submit suggestions to the Governor for filling a vacancy in the State House of Delegates. In November 2024 Republican Joseph deSoto was elected, but then he was charged with a serious crime, and he was removed. However, before he was removed, he changed his registration to “Democratic”. Under the law and precedent, when there is a vacancy in the legislature, the Governor appoints someone. There is no special election. But the Governor must appoint one of three individuals whose name had been suggested by the party of which the outgoing legislator was a member.
The Democratic Party says it doesn’t matter that deSoto was elected as a Republican; he was a Democrat when he resigned. Nevertheless, Governor Pat Morrisey has already filled the seat with one of the three suggestions submitted by the Republican Party. See this story.