On April 20, the Honolulu city council passed a resolution, urging the Hawaii legislature not to pass HB 638, the bill to use Instant Runoff Voting in special elections. It is ironic that the resolution was initiated by the member of the city council who was elected in a special election and who got only 14% of the vote. It is also telling that one city councilmember praised the 2005 election in Iraq, because that election used Proportional Representation. See this story.

HB 638 has passed both houses of the Hawaii legislature and is in conference committee on April 21.

According to this article, Wisconsin Democrats have finished collecting recall petition signatures in five State Senate districts so far this year. By contrast, Republicans have only finished one recall petition against a sitting Democratic State Senator.

State Senators are the only Wisconsin state officials who can be recalled this year. All the lower house legislators, and the Governor, were elected or re-elected in November 2010, so they can’t be recalled now. Recall petitions must be signed by a number of voters equal to 25% of the last gubernatorial vote in that district.

On April 20, the Missouri House Rules Committee passed SB 282. The bill now moves to the House floor. Among many other unrelated changes, it permits an unqualified party to circulate a petition to qualify itself, without the need for that petition to list candidates for president and presidential elector. Of course, this makes it possible for the petition to be circulated before the group has chosen a presidential nominee.