North Carolina HB 794, the ballot access improvement bill, has a hearing on Wednesday, May 8, at 1 p.m., in the House Elections Committee.
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On May 6, the Maine Joint State and Local Government Committee held a hearing on LD 1309, which greatly increases the amount of public funding that candidates for state office can potentially receive. The Committee will probably approve the bill in the next few days. See this story.
The recent South Carolina Republican Party state convention did not vote to use conventions in 2014, so the party will continue to nominate by primary. See this story.
A three-day trial will be held August 21-23 in South Carolina Republican Party v State, 6:10cv-1407. This is the case over whether the Republican Party may close its primary. Alternatively, the party wants relief from the state law that says if a party chooses to hold a convention instead of a primary, that resolution must be approved by three-fourths of all the delegates to the State Convention.
The trial begins at 9:30 a.m. in the Spartanburg federal courthouse at 201 Magnolia Street. The judge is Mary G. Lewis, who was appointed in 2011 by President Obama.
The Maine legislature now has two bills to establish Ranked-Choice voting for federal and state office. The first one, LD 518, was introduced in February and hasn’t moved. The new bill, introduced in April, is LD 1422. The lead sponsor is Representative Deane Rykerson (D-Kittery). LD 1422 also covers a completely separate subject, a restoration of Maine’s presidential primary. It appears LD 1422 will soon receive a hearing.
The bill says that for purposes of determining whether a party polled as much as 5% of the vote, only the voters’ First Choice votes count. Whether a party gets 5% of the vote is no longer relevant for determining whether an old party remains on the ballot. But it is still relevant for determining if a newly-qualifying party has indeed gained qualified status. If a group runs a candidate for President or Governor who polls at least 5% of the vote, that creates a new ballot-qualified party, assuming the group can also fulfill various organization requirements, such as holding a town caucus in the spring of the following election year in each county in the state.