A bill has been introduced in the Oregon Senate to repeal the restriction that says primary voters can’t sign independent candidate petitions. It is SB 326. The sponsor is Senator Rick Metsger (D-Mount Hood).
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The Chicago Tribune published this op-ed on February 3, advocating that the legislature move the primary (for all office) from February to June.
The South Carolina legislature is considering H 3067, which would ban fusion. The bill passed a subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee on January 29, and is now pending in the full committee. “Fusion” is the ability of two political parties to jointly nominate the same candidate.
On February 3, the Arkansas Senate passed HB 1021, to move the presidential primary from February to May. The bill now goes to the Governor.
On February 2, the Rules Committee of the Pierce County Council voted 2-1 to repeal ranked choice voting in county elections. If the full Council approves the measure, then the voters would be asked whether they wish to amend the County Charter to make this change. See this newspaper story.
Pierce County is a populous county that includes Tacoma. It used ranked choice voting for the first time in November 2008.