On May 14, the Oregon State Senate unanimously passed SB 326, which repeals the law that makes it illegal for primary voters to sign an independent candidate petition. Thanks to Dan Meek for the news.
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On May 14, the California Assembly unanimously passed AB 308. It provides that overseas voters who are voting in an election that requires a run-off if no one gets 50% of the vote in the first round, will be sent two ballots in the same envelope. The envelope would include a normal ballot, and a separate ballot for the same election using Instant Runoff. The overseas voter is then free to mark both ballots. In the event that the election requires a run-off, that voter’s IRV ballot is used, so that there is no need to mail that voter a separate ballot for the run-off.
At British Columbia’s election to elect a new Provincial legislature on May 12, the Green Party polled 8% of the total vote cast in all districts in the province. See this newspaper story, which labels the showing “poor”.
On May 13, Illinois HB 723 was amended in the Senate Elections Committee, the very day it had been assigned to that committee. This indicates the legislative leadership is interested in passing it quickly. It restricts the ability of ballot-qualified parties to nominate someone after the primary is over. Existing law lets the party do this with no additional petition, but the bill requires that candidates nominated after the primary must submit a petition, to be circulated between mid-February and mid-April. The amendment reduces that petition from 5% of the last vote cast, to approximately one-half of 1% of the last vote cast.
On May 13, the Minnesota Supreme Court heard Minnesota Voters Alliance v City of Minneapolis, A09-182. This is the case in which opponents of IRV sued to stop Minneapolis from implementing IRV for elections for its own officers. Here is an article describing the argument.