On April 1, the Illinois Senate defeated SB 1666 by a vote of 17-37. It would have converted Illinois from a state with a primary in which the primary voter must publicly say which primary ballot he or she wants, to a system in which the primary voter makes that decision in the secrecy of the voting booth. Thanks to Steve Rankin for this news. Proponents of the change are not downhearted, because they have been working for this change for many years, and this is the first time this type of bill has advanced this far.

The Constitution Party holds a national committee meeting in Newark, New Jersey, June 11-13. Former Congressmember Virgil Goode will speak at that meeting. Goode had been a Democratic member of Congress from Virginia, and then in the 1990’s had been re-elected as an independent, and then afterwards he was elected to several more terms as a Republican. He was defeated for re-election in 2008.

The congressional bill to expand the size of the U.S. House from 435 to 437 members, with a new member for Utah and a voting member for the District of Columbia, is likely to receive a vote in the House in May. It has already passed the Senate. See this article in the April 1 Washington Post, which highlights that the U.S. Justice Department’s original analysis this year was that the bill is unconstitutional, but the Attorney General himself reversed that position.