On April 1, the Montana legislature passed HB 180, which ends election-day voter registration. Montana is the first state with election-day registration to repeal it. However, there is a good chance that the Governor will veto the bill. See this story. Thanks to Mike Fellows for the link.
The Tennessee House State and Local Government had committee had been expected to hear HB 794 on April 5, but the hearing has been postponed until April 12. This is the bill that makes minor improvements in the procedure by which new and minor parties get on the ballot. The old law was ruled unconstitutional last year, mostly because the petition deadline is too early. But the bill only moves the deadline from March to early April, and would still be unconstitutional if passed. Also the bill doesn’t lower the number of signatures, which is currently slightly more than 40,000 signatures.
No minor party has completed the petition in Tennessee since 1968. That is one reason the old law was struck down last year.
On April 4, the Hawaii Senate Judiciary Committee passed HB 638 by 4-1. It says that the state will use Instant Runoff Voting in special elections. The bill had already passed the House. The bill contains an interesting preamble, mentioning other places in the world that use Ranked Choice Voting.
The Canadian court hearing the Green Party’s request for inclusion in the April 12 and April 14 debates won’t be expedited. See this story. Therefore, even if the Green Party wins the case, the decision won’t be in time to do any practical good this year.
On April 4, the Idaho Senate passed HB 275 unanimously. The bill is now through the legislature. Among other unrelated election law changes, it lowers the number of signatures for an independent presidential candidate from approximately 6,000 signatures, to exactly 1,000. Also it makes it legal for out-of-state circulators to work on an independent presidential petition.
Idaho is the third state in which a bill improving ballot access for minor parties or independents has passed a state legislature so far this year. The others are Nebraska and New Mexico.
