On May 13, two members of the U.S. House introduced a proposed constitutional amendment guaranteeing all adult citizens the right to vote. The sponsors are Keith Ellison (D-Minnesota) and Mark Pocan (D-Wisconsin). The bill number hasn’t been assigned yet.

The proposed amendment reads, “Section 1. Every citizen of the United States, who is of legal voting age, shall have the fundamental right to vote in any public election held in the jurisdiction in which the citizen resides. Section 2. Congress shall have the power to enforce and implement this article by appropriate legislation.”

If this were enacted, ex-felons and felons in all states were gain the franchise. It is not clear whether the amendment, if enacted, could be used to strike down restrictive ballot access laws for candidates. The U.S. Supreme Court has said in the past, “The right to vote includes the right of choice for whom to vote.” Certainly a voter in Oklahoma, a state that has prevented its voters from voting for anyone for President other than the Democratic and Republican nominees in each of the last three presidential general elections, would have a strong case against the Oklahoma ballot access laws. Thanks to Rick Hasen for news about the proposed amendment.

The Colorado legislature adjourned on May 8. The session did not pass HB 1067, which would have provided that if a party has no primary contests, no primary ballots should be printed for that party. The Constitution Party, which is entitled to its own primary, will now have primary ballots for itself in 2014, even if there are no races with more than a single Constitution Party candidate.

On March 2, the Wyoming Constitution Party launched a referendum petition, which requires the signatures of 15% of the state’s registered voters, and is due May 28. The exact requirement is 37,606 signatures. The petition would ask for a public vote on SF 104, which the legislature passed in January 2013. SF 104 removes the elected Superintendent of Public Instruction from her position as chair of the state Education Department, and gives the Governor power to appoint someone instead.

The pace of signature collection has greatly improved this month, and there is some reason to belief the petition may succeed. See this story, which was written two weeks ago and does not discuss the pace of petitioning, but which does illustrate the growing support for the referendum. No statewide referendum petition has succeeded in Wyoming since 1996.