The Oregon House Rules Committee holds a hearing and a work session on HB 2588, the National Popular Vote, on the afternoon of February 20. Here is a story about the hearing. John Koza, the chief force behind the idea, will testify. The Oregon bill has 27 co-sponsors in the House (the House only has 60 members) so the bill is very likely to pass, at least in the House.
On February 18, U.S. District Court Judge B. Lynn Winmill, a Clinton appointee, heard oral argument in Idaho Republican Party v Ysursa. This is the case in which the party is trying to obtain a closed primary for itself. Idaho is a state with no registration by party. The hearing lasted just over an hour. It was difficult to tell which way the judge was leaning, but his opinion will probably be out in a month or two. There was little press coverage of the hearing.
This article in Aspen, Colorado’s daily newspaper of February 19 explains that although the city will definitely use Ranked-Choice Voting this year for its own elections, the City Council must decide between two different versions.
The Los Angeles Times of February 20 has this op-ed by Steve Hill of the New America Foundation, questioning whether the “top-two” election system will help California.
On February 12, Faye Coffield filed her rebuttal brief in the U.S. District Court in her federal lawsuit against the Georgia ballot access law for independent candidates for the U.S. House. All the briefs are in now.
