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 May 10, the Texas House passed HB 3065, which continues a trend in Texas to have the government pay directly for the cost of holding partisan primaries. Ever since 1972, government in Texas has paid for party primaries. But the Texas method of payment has been unique in the nation. The Texas system, since 1972, has had the parties administer their own primaries, and then submit the bill for expenses to the state government, which then reimbuses the parties.
HB 3065 says that if the county election officials desire to bill the state directly, they may do so. That eliminates the party as the “middleman”. For the last few years, populous counties already had the ability to bill the state government directly, but HB 3065 extends this practice to all counties. Thanks to Jim Riley for this news.
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.
Periodically the Georgia State Election Board invites the public to comment on any policy matter involving elections. On Tuesday, May 14, at 10 a.m., there will be such a meeting. Here is the agenda. Thanks to Garland Favorito for the link.
On May 7, the New York State Assembly passed A4980, a bill to provide public funding for candidates for state office. The vote was 88-50. Now the bill goes to the State Senate.
Like the Arizona and Maine public funding programs, but unlike the Connecticut program, the bill does not discriminate for or against any candidate on the basis of party affiliation or independent status. The bill requires candidates who receive public funding to participate in at least one candidate debate. These debates would be open to all ballot-listed candidates, whether the candidates were eligible for public funding or not. Here is the text of the bill. The more interesting parts start about mid-way through the bill; the bill has other provisions not related to public funding.
