On April 11, the Nebraska legislature passed LB 20, which lets persons convicted of a felony register to vote immediately after serving their term of imprisonment. Existing law says they must wait two years after release. The vote in the Senate was 38-6. Thanks to Mike Drucker for this news.
In presidential years, Washington elects a partisan statewide office called Commissioner of Public Lands. Recently a Washington Democratic State Senator, Rebecca Saldana, withdrew from the primary, because otherwise there would have been four strong Democratic candidates for that office, and only two Republicans for the same office. She withdrew because she was afraid the top-two system would result in the two Republicans placing first and second, thus depriving any Democrat from being on the November ballot.
This article says the same thing happened to the Democratic Party in 2016, in the State Treasurer’s race; and it happened to the Republican Party in 2020 in the Lieutenant Governor’s race; and it happened to the Republican Party in the 2020 special election for Secretary of State. Thanks to Fairvote for the link.
This article reveals that Washington state also has a presidential nominee certification deadline that is earlier than this year’s Democratic convention, as Alabama and Ohio do. However, the Washington Secretary of State, a Democrat, says the national party could satisfy the law by sending in a provision certification. The Alabama Secretary of State, according to the article, has said that idea wouldn’t work in Alabama.
Alabama Senator Merika Coleman (D-Birmingham) has introduced SB 318, to move the date for qualified parties to certify the names of their presidential nominees from 82 days before the election, to 74 days before. This would solve the problem that the existing deadline is earlier than this year’s Democratic national convention.
She has also introduced SB 324, which moves the certification deadline in the same way, and also moves the deadline for independent presidential candidate petitions to a later date. SB 324 has seven co-sponsors.
On March 24, Irv Sutley died at the age of 79. He had been active in the Peace & Freedom Party in Sonoma County, California, ever since 1972. He was a PFP nominee for either Congress or legislature in 1978, 1990, 1992, 1994, and 1998. He also ran for non-partisan office as a PFP member.
See this lengthy obituary in the Press Democrat, the daily newspaper for Santa Rosa.
