On March 25, Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell signed SB 1049, which says that when an inactive voter signs a petition for a candidate, the signature is valid. An inactive voter is someone who hasn’t voted in either of the last two federal elections, and who hasn’t returned a postcard seeking to verify that he or she still lives at the same address.
On March 25, the Connecticut Joint Government Administration and Election Committee heard three hours of testimony on SB 1146. The intent of the bill is to outlaw the ability of two parties to jointly nominate the same candidate. See this story.
Raw Story has this story about Ralph Nader’s recent appearance on C-SPAN for 4 and one-half minutes. The article also provides a link to the C-SPAN interview. Nader has some interesting predictions about 2016, toward the end.
Seven Democratic State Senators in Michigan have introduced Joint Resolution P. If enacted, it would ask the voters in 2014 if they wish to amend the state Constitution, to provide that all presidential electors in Michigan be those nominated by the party that placed first in the statewide vote, in presidential elections.
The proposal is badly worded, because it would foreclose any independent presidential candidate from ever carrying Michigan in the electoral college, even if he or she received more popular votes than any other presidential candidate. Also, it would bar Michigan from passing the National Popular Vote Plan idea. It was introduced to forestall any expected bill that would change Michigan’s presidential elector selection process to either letting each U.S. House district choose its own elector, or else letting the electors be based on the proportion of the popular vote that each candidate received in Michigan. Thanks to an anonymous commenter for this news.
On March 25, the California Secretary of State released new registration data, as of February 10, 2013. See here for the Report.
The last registration tally was as of October 22, 2012. All qualified parties have a higher share of the registration now than they did in October 2012, except that the Republican and Green Parties declined. The percentage of “no party preference” voters (independent voters) also declined, compared to October 2012.
The Secretary of State also keeps track of how many people register into political parties that are now qualified, but which say they are trying to qualify. The only political body that gained since October is the Constitution Party, which had 260 registrants in October 2012 but which now has 304.
