The Clarion Ledger of Jackson, Mississippi, has this story about the National Popular Vote Plan movement. One of the most interesting details in this story is an account of what happened in Mississippi in 1944. According to the story, the state Democratic Party convention “secretly” chose presidential elector candidates who were not intending to vote for Franklin Roosevelt, but Senator Harry Byrd. But the “secret” got out, and the Governor called the legislature into special session, and the legislators (all of whom were Democrats) named a different slate of elector candidates for the Democratic Party only a week before the election. The ballots were re-printed to replace the first slate with the newer slate.

On April 18, the Oregon House passed HB 3077, the National Popular Vote Plan bill. The bill had passed the House Rules Committee on April 17. The vote in the House was 38-21. Democrats supported the bill 31-2. Republicans mostly opposed it, but their votes were not overwhelmingly against the bill; Republicans opposed it 19-7.

The Oregon Senate also has a bill for the National Popular Vote Plan, SB 624, but it hasn’t moved so far.

On April 17, the New Hampshire Senate Election Law and Veterans Affairs Committee passed HB 521, a bill to “study all current New Hampshire election laws and procedures and review all options to increase participation and access to the ballot.” Unfortunately, the committee also amended the bill, at the request of the sponsor, to delete the subject of ballot access. The sponsor said the subject of ballot access is too complicated for a committee that will have few members and won’t have much time to make for its study.

New Hampshire badly needs ballot access reform. It is the only state in the east in which the Green Party has never been on the ballot for President, except in 2000. It is one of only three states which hasn’t had any ballot-qualified parties on the ballot, except for the Democratic and Republican Parties, at any time since November 1996 (the other two states are New Jersey and Pennsylvania). It is unfortunate that the study won’t deal with ballot access.