On February 2, Virginia HB 1132 was amended. As originally introduced, it said that write-in votes are permitted in primaries. As amended, it gives each party the authority to decide for itself whether it wants write-ins in its primaries.
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On February 2, the Utah House Government Operations Committee passed HB 233. The bill says if a party passes the 2% vote test, it is then on the ballot for the next four years, instead of just the next two years.
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors will decide, either on February 7 or February 14, whether to place a ballot measure on the ballot, or perhaps two ballot measures on the ballot, concerning Instant Runoff Voting. One measure that may be put on the ballot is to eliminate IRV, and return to the system of two rounds of elections for city office. The other idea that may be placed on the ballot is to expand IRV so that each voter may indicate more choices for any one office other than just First, Second and Third Choice.
If the Board approves putting either of these measures on the ballot, or both of them, the Board will also decide whether to put them on the June ballot or the November ballot. The date of the February hearing should be clearer on February 3. UPDATE: the Supervisors cannot act to put the measures on the ballot until their February 14 meeting. But they could table either or both measures on February 7. Thanks to Steve Hill for this news.
On February 2, all challenges to the validity of President Obama’s petition for the Illinois Democratic Party presidential primary were defeated or withdrawn. Two challenges had said President Obama does not meet the constitutional qualifications to be President, but the hearing officer accepted the President’s birth certificate and did not even comment about the allegation that a “natural-born citizen” can only be someone whose parents were U.S. citizens.
The third challenge claimed that Obama’s petition did not have 3,000 valid signatures, but it was withdrawn before the merits were reached.
Americans Elect’s web page now lets candidates file to compete for the organization’s presidential nomination, and also lets voters participate in an effort to draft a candidate.