On April 30, the Florida Secretary of State sent a letter to the state officers of the Natural Law Party, saying its application for qualified status has been approved. However, as of Friday, May 3, the Secretary of State’s website still doesn’t include Natural Law as a qualified party.
The Pinal County, Arizona, elections office has sent postal letters to all registered members of the No Labels Party. The letter says that they may want to re-register because the party won’t have any nominees on the November 2024 ballot. The letter enclosed a self-addressed envelope to make it easier for recipients to re-register. Thanks to Richard Grayson for this news.
On May 3, the Illinois House removed all the contents of SB 2412, a bill that originally concerned child welfare, and converted it into an election law bill. It now eliminates the ability of a qualified party to nominate someone by party meeting if no one had won the party’s primary.
It also moves the petition deadline for presidential primary candidates from early January of the election year, to early December of the year before the election. Illinois primaries for president and all other partisan office are in March of election years.
See this story, which says the bill is highly partisan and seems designed to eliminate the ability of the Republican Party to nominate for one particular state legislative seat this year. Assuming this bill becomes law, the Illinois Republican Party would have a strong case that the bill violates due process. Thanks to Eliyahu Neiman for the link.
On May 2, Alabama Governor Kay Ivey signed SB 324, which eases deadlines for qualified parties to certify the names of the presidential and vice-presidential nominee and also eases the presidential petition deadline for independent candidates.
There is still no similar bill in Ohio.
Current Rhode Island lets independent voters vote in a partisan primary, but if an independent chooses a party primary ballot at the polls, he or she is considered registered in that party unless the voters fills out a form on the way out, to remain a registered independent.
On April 23, the House passed H7662. It eliminates the need for such a voter to fill out a form after voting in order to remain an independent.
