On February 14, the New Mexico Senate Judiciary Committee passed SB 218, after amending it to make it worse for minor parties. The bill says general election ballots will carry straight-ticket devices. As amended, only parties with at least two statewide nominees could have a straight-ticket device.

The problem with this is that New Mexico requires a very difficult petition for a qualified minor party to place its own nominees on the November ballot, other than its presidential nominee. For example, in 2012, New Mexico has two statewide races, President and U.S. Senate. New Mexico will probably have five parties, other than the Democratic and Republican Parties, who are on the ballot for President. But chances are, none of them will have a nominee for U.S. Senate, because that takes a separate petition of 6,018 signatures, due in late June.

See this article for a description of the first day of the status conference in Perez v State of Texas. Although the state and the plaintiffs appear fairly close to settling the boundaries for state legislative districts, the article says no settlement is even close for U.S. House district boundaries. The status conference will continue on February 15. It seems somewhat likely that the Texas presidential primary cannot be held on a day other than the primary for every other office, because the state won’t pay for it and the counties can’t afford separate primaries.

It now seems inevitable that Texas will be required to substantially alter its ballot access procedures for independent candidates and unqualified parties. Texas is the only state that won’t let any minor party or independent candidate petitions be circulated until after the primary is over. As the primary day appears to get later and later, the Texas primary screen-out becomes increasingly impractical. The statute says the independent presidential petition deadline is May 14, 2012, but if that petition can’t be circulated until after the primary, the procedure is a nullity. The best guess for the date of the Texas primary now seems to be May 29.

On February 14, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors declined to put a ballot measure on the ballot that would ask voters if they wish to repeal Instant Runoff Voting. The proposal would have reverted to a two-round election, with the election itself in September, and a run-off in November if no one got at least 65% in the September election.