According to this news story, Ohio’s Secretary of State has promulgated a directive that requires voters who are voting in a different party’s primary this year, relative to 2008, to sign pledges of support for the party whose primary ballot that are requesting.

Ohio does not ask voters to choose a party, when they fill out a voter registration form. One would think that a state that does not have registration by party would be more relaxed about which party’s primary ballot a primary voter chooses.

Some years ago, a Democratic candidate for state court judge in Ohio sued, because she said elections officials were letting people who had voted in the Republican primary in the past choose a Democratic primary ballot currently. But, she lost. The Ohio courts said elections officials have no duty to try to stop voters from choosing a different party’s primary ballot. The Secretary of State’s directive can properly be criticized as changing the rules just before the upcoming May 2010 primary. Thanks to ThirdPartyDaily for the link.

The next step in the American Independent Party lawsuit over the identity of the actual state officers, King v Robinson, is that the Defendants will answer the Complaint on or before April 5, 2010. In a civil lawsuit, the “answer” is the initial response of the Defendants. Its purpose is for the Defendants to say whether they agree or disagree with the allegations contained in the Plaintiffs’ Complaint. The Complaint was filed over a year ago. UPDATE: an earlier version of this post said the answer is due April 25, but the commenter below is right and the answer is due April 5.

On March 29, Colorado HB 1271 passed the Senate State, Veterans, and Military Affairs Committee. This bill eases ballot access for independent candidates. It has already passed the House.

Current law says no one can be an independent candidate (except for President) who has been a registered member of a qualified party for an entire year before filing. The bill eases that to approximately five months before filing.