Ten Oregon legislators are sponsoring HB 2580, which would legalize fusion and even provide that a voter could vote for the fusion candidate under either party label. The sponsors are these Republicans: Senator Brian Boquist and Representative Vicki Berger; and these Democrats: Senator Diane Rosenbaum and Representatives Peter Buckley, Chip Shields, Jeff Barker, Ben Cannon, Michael Dembrow, Chris Garrett, and Arnie Roblan.
Previous blog posts had noted that the South Carolina House has a bill to eliminate the ability of two political parties to jointly nominate the same candidate. An anti-fusion bill also now has been introduced in the Senate. It is SB 334, introduced by 3 Republicans, George Campsen, Lawrence Groome, and Michael Rose.
On February 9, the South Dakota Senate Local Government Committee killed SB 157. It would have let independent voters vote in any party’s primary.
Texas Representative Sid Miller (R-Stephenville) has introduced HB 835, to require candidates to submit a birth certificate or other proof of citizenship. The bill would apply to candidates filing for primaries (including presidential primaries), and also to candidates nominated for the general election by petition or convention.
The Washington Secretary of State, Sam Reed, has written a bill redefining “major party” and “minor party”. That bill, SB 5681, has been introduced by nine State Senators. It changes the definition of “major party” from a group that polled 5% for any statewide race, to a group that polled 1% for president in the last presidential election.
That change is necessary because parties in Washington state no longer have nominees, other than presidential nominees. Without this change, there would be no qualified major parties in the state after the U.S. Senate election in 2010.
The bill also changes the definition of “minor party” from any group, to any group that submits a petition of 100 signatures. Washington state law says that candidates should appear on ballots with a statement of which party they “prefer”. Under existing law, they can prefer any group, even an imaginary one. Under the bill, candidates will only be able to “prefer” a major party, or a group that has submitted a petition of 100 names.
