On March 10, the Arkansas House passed SB 209. It had already passed the House. It says if the Secretary of State finds by a preponderance of the evidence that any particular initiative circulator had violated laws regarding canvassing, perjury, forgery, or fraudulent practices, no signatures collected by that circulator are valid. Here is the text.
The House refused to pass an urgency clause, because that takes two-thirds, so the bill must return to the Senate.
The New Hampshire Senate Election Law and Municipal Affairs Committee will hear SB 222 on Tuesday, March 11, at 9:45 a.m. The bill moves the non-presidential primary from September to June. That automatically moves the petition deadline for independent candidates and the nominees of unqualified parties from August to May, and moves the declaration of candidacy for such candidates from June to March.
The new deadlines would even apply to independent presidential candidates, and would clearly be unconstitutional under the U.S. Supreme Court decision Anderson v Celebrezze.
The hearing is in Room 103 of the Legislative Office Building.
On February 22, 2025, the U.S. Taxpayers Party of Michigan resolved to take legal action to force the Secretary of State to let it change its name to “Constitution Party.” The national party was formerly known as the U.S. Taxpayers Party, but in 1999 the national party changed its name to the Constitution Party. Every other state unit of the party was permitted to change its name, although a few state affiliates did not seek to change their name.
Generally, states let parties change their names upon request, especially if it a state that doesn’t have partisan registration. Michigan has previously told the party that it will not permit the name change. Among states without partisan registration, Michigan is the only state that has ever denied a qualified party the right to change its name.
Very few states have any law on whether a party may change its name or not. Minnesota and Wisconsin do have such laws, however.
On March 4, the Oklahoma Senate Judiciary Committee passed SB 900. It would establish procedures for recall of elected state officials. See this story.
On February 12, the Arkansas Senate passed SB 210 by a vote of 22-10. It requires initiative petitioners to read the Ballot Title to everyone the circulator approaches. If anyone signs the petition and the circulator had not read the ballot title, the circulator is guilty of a misdemeanor.
On March 5, the House Committee on Stage Agencies and Government Affairs also passed the bill.
