On April 4, the Oklahoma House passed SB 309, so it is now on its way to the Governor. This is the bill to provide that if a presidential elector casts a vote in the Electoral College different from what was expected, he or she is deemed to have resigned. The vote in the House was 62-24. A majority of the Democrats who voted on this bill voted against it. This is the first time a bill on this subject has failed to get majority support in any legislative chamber from either of the two major parties. Generally these bills pass almost unanimously.

California Assemblymember Richard Pan (D-Sacramento) has introduced AB 1038. It says, “A person shall not offer to pay or pay money or other valuable consideration to another person, either directly or indirectly, to assist another person to register to vote under a certain political party by receiving the completed affidavit of registration. Any person who violates this section is guilty of a misdemeanor.”

Assemblymember Pan had a similar bill in 2012, AB 2058, but Governor Jerry Brown vetoed it.

The bill is discriminatory, because while it would make it illegal for a qualified party to pay someone for each registration into that party, it would not be illegal for an unqualified party to do the same thing. California election law defines “party” to mean a qualified party. The bill has a hearing in the Assembly Elections Committee on Tuesday, April 9, at 1:30 p.m.

On March 28, the Hawaii Senate Ways & Means Committee passed HB 1481, which would institute a program of public funding for candidates for state house of representatives. Here is a copy of the bill, although it may not be the latest version. The bill had passed the House on March 5. It does not discriminate for or against any candidate on the basis of partisan affiliation.