Juneau, Alaska has been unrepresented in the Alaska State Senate for the last month. The original Senator, Kim Elton (a Democrat), had resigned to accept an appointment in the Obama administration. Alaska Governor Sarah Palin believes she is entitled to choose any Democrat for the vacant seat, unless the full legislature vetoes her choice. But Democratic Senators believe that the Governor may only appoint a Democrat suggested by Senate Democrats. Two gubernatorial appointees, Tim Grussendorf and more recently Joe Nelson, have failed to be seated. The Alaska legislature adjourns in little more than a week.

Florida bill CS/HB497 has passed several committees in the House, and is currently in the Development & Community Affairs Policy Council. It would outlaw paying initiative circulators on a per-signature basis. It would not apply to people who circulate petitions for candidates. Of course, the only candidate petitions remaining in Florida are petitions in lieu of filing fee, and petitions for independent presidential candidates. It is always peculiar when legislators introduce a bill that is supposedly needed to protect the signature-gathering process, and then that legislator makes the bill applicable only to one type of petition. Thanks to Richard Moroney for the news.

Ballot Access News blog posts have been thinner than usual for the last two weeks, because editor Richard Winger has been on vacation, but that vacation ends April 17, Friday afternoon.