Utah State Senator Michael McKell (R-Spanish Fork) has introduced SB 194. It is an omnibus election law bill, with a provision that changes how vacancies in the legislature are filled. Currently when a legislator does or resigns, that legislator’s party has the right to replace him or her. Recently the Forward Party gained a state legislator in Utah, because a Republican representative had changed his affiliation to show himself a member of the Forward Party. Then, that legislator had resigned, so the Forward Party was permitted to choose his replacement.

Under the bill, the outgoing legislator’s party when he or she left the legislature would not matter. Instead what would matter is the outgoing legislator’s party membership when he or she had last been elected. If this bill had been law earlier this year, the Forward Party could not now have a state legislator.

On January 23, a U.S. House redistricting bill, HB 488, was introduced in the Maryland House. See this story. But its chances in the Senate seem dim.

On Friday, January 23, Wyoming Secretary of State Chuck Gray issued a press release, listing his five priorities for changing Wyoming election law in thi year’s legislative session. See this story. He did not mention ballot access. Yet in November 2025 he had said he would again try to persuade the legislature to increase the number of signatures for independent candidates, from 2% of the last U.S. House vote to 3% for statewide office and 5% for district office.