On February 7, U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Laphonza Butler (D-Cal.) introduced S.3750, which requires states to draw U.S. House districts that are not biased for or against any political party. Here is the bill’s text.
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On February 21, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. sued the Maine Secretary of State for revoking permission for his petitioners to work at the polls on March 5, when Maine holds its presidential primary. Team Kennedy v Bellows, 1:24cv-52. The case is assigned to U.S. District Court Judge John Woodcock, Bush Jr appointee.
Maine traditionally allows petitioners at the polls, and as recently as November 2023, allowed presidential primary candidates to petition at the polls. Furthermore, the Kennedy petitioners had earlier been told they could petition at the polls.
On February 22, the Kansas House passed HB 2516 by 68-52. This is the bill that raises the number of signatures for a statewide independent from 5,000 signatures to 2% of the last gubernatorial vote (almost 21,000 signatures). Now the bill goes to the Senate.
Kansas is in the Tenth Circuit. In 1984 the Tenth Circuit ruled in a Wyoming case that states cannot increase ballot access barriers in an election year and expect the new requirement to take effect immediately. The Kansas bill, if passed, will be in violation of that ruling, because it takes effect this year.
San Diego elects its Mayor in a two-stage process. All candidates run in this non-partisan election on March 5, 2024. Then the two top vote-getters run against each other on November 5, even if someone got over 50% in March.
On February 20, a Superior Court ruled that Larry Turner should be on the March ballot, even though his residency has been challenged. There will be a trial about whether he lives in San Diego or El Cajon (a neighboring city) on March 29. The judge said the ballots for March have already been printed so there is no time to decide the eligibility issue now. The votes for Turner will be counted.
But if the trial shows that Turner is ineligible, and he placed either first or second, then in November his name will not be on the ballot and whoever placed third in March will be on the ballot. See this story.
On February 21, the New York State Supreme Court, Appellate Division, agreed with the loewr court that the New York State Constitution does not permit New York city to let non-citizens vote in elections for New York city office. Fossella v Adams. The decision had been pending since June 2023. Here is the opinion.