Aristides Brito, a Republican Party activist in South Carolina, has this op-ed in the Herald-Journal of Spartanburg, arguing that, at least in the South Carolina context, nomination by convention is superior to nomination by primary.

In the meantime, the Republican Party is still in federal court, over whether the party should be allowed to close its primary to non-members. The party has been trying for months to get data from elections officials that will let the party prove that leaders of the Democratic Party have been voting in Republican primaries. Although voting is secret, the information as to which party any particular voter chooses on primary day is not secret. On March 20, the Republican Party asked for a hearing on whether election officials should be sanctioned, and should also be compelled to produce the data that the party needs. The case is South Carolina Republican Party v State, U.S. District Court,6:10cv1407.

According to this story, influential Republicans in the Michigan legislature, and Ruth Johnson, the Republican Secretary of State, say they favor changing how Michigan awards electoral votes. The article seems to say that they may soon introduce a bill that will combine proportionality of the popular vote, and the vote within each district. There have been many proposals to determine how electoral votes are awarded, but this idea seems to be entirely new. There is a reference in the story to half-electors. Thanks to Thomas Jones for the link.

Even though South Dakota HB 1018 has been signed into law, and even though it goes into effect on July 1, the South Dakota Secretary of State thinks Americans Elect will still be on the 2014 ballot. The bill lets a party dissolve itself. However, the Secretary of State’s office feels that for the Americans Elect Party to have a state chair in place, the national party would need to amend its national bylaws and give the national party to power to appoint state chairs. Then, Americans Elect’s national office would need to actually appoint a South Dakota state chair, and then both the state chair and the national chair would need to sign notarized statements, requesting that the party go out of legal existence in South Dakota.

There is no more national office for Americans Elect, and apparently no more officers. The corporation has been dissolved. So, HB 1018 will probably have no effect on Americans Elect for 2014, and any voter is free to register into Americans Elect and run in its primary. However, access to the primary ballot of Americans Elect requires that the number of voters registered “Americans Elect” would need to increase, because a petition to put a legislative candidate on the primary ballot needs the signatures of 5 registered Americans Elect voters, and a statewide candidate needs 250 signatures.