On February 14, the Alaska Senate unanimously passed SB 31, which says that write-in votes are not invalid just because they aren’t spelled perfectly. The bill now goes to the House. Thanks to Rick Hasen for this news.
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On February 11, Tennessee State Senator Stacey Campfield (R-Knoxville) introduced SB 617, to govern how political parties can qualify for the general election ballot. The bill requires 2,500 signatures, and says that newly-qualifying parties would nominate by convention, not primary.
Senator Campfield had earlier this year introduced another ballot access bill for newly qualifying parties, SB 129, but it only lowered the petition from 2.5% of the last gubernatorial vote, to 1% of the last gubernatorial vote, and did not solve other problems, such as the early petition deadline and wording on the petition that implies signers are members of the party.
The old law was declared unconstitutional last year, so it is likely that some bill on this subject will pass the legislature this year. Thanks to Tony Wall for the news.
Voters in Columbus, Ohio, will be choosing four Board of Education members in an election this year. The election is non-partisan. According to this news story, so many candidate have had petitions rejected, that there may be only three candidates on the ballot, even though there are four seats to fill. Thanks to Steve Linnabary for the link.
Nebraska State Senators John Nelson and Scott Lautenbaugh have introduced the Secretary of State’s omnibus election law bill, LB 449. Among other things, it restricts who can be an independent candidate. The bill says no one can be an independent candidate if he or she were registered as a member of a qualified party on March 1 of the election year. Also it makes it illegal for anyone to circulate an independent candidate petition earlier than December 15 of the year before the election.
The bill does not seem to affect independent presidential candidates, who have a separate section in the existing law. That separate section is not being amended. The bill has a hearing on February 16 in the Government, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee.
On February 14, the South Dakota Senate State Affairs Committee voted to table SB 138. This is the National Popular Vote Plan bill. This means the bill is dead for this legislative session.