On January 22, Arizona State Senator Anthony Kern (R-Glendale) introduced SCR 1014, a proposed constitutional amendment.  It would provide that voters no longer choose presidential electors in Arizona.  Instead, the outgoing legislature would choose the presidential electors.

If the legislature passed this bill, then it would go on the ballot for voters to decide whether to put it in the State Constitution.

Senator Kern was in attendance at the January 6, 2021 event at the U.S. Capitol Building.  He is running for Congress this year, so he won’t be running for re-election.

Indiana Representative Ryan Dvorak (D-South Bend) has again introduced his bill to greatly ease petition requirements for independent candidates and the nominees of unqualified parties.  His HB 1324 lowers the statewide petition from 2% of the last vote cast for Secretary of State, to exactly 250 signatures.

He introduced the same bill in 2022, but it did not make any headway.

Evan McMahon, Chair of the Libertarian Party of Indiana, told Bill Redpath that the bill won’t even get a hearing in the Republican Party-dominated legislature.

The Arizona Secretary of State has released the registration tally as of January 1, 2024.  See it here.  Percentages are:  Republican 34.58%; Democratic 29.55%; Independent and miscellaneous 34.38%; Libertarian .79%; No Labels .63%; Green .06%.

As the October 2023 tally, the percentages had been:  Republican 34.33%; Democratic 29.76%; independent and miscellaneous 34.59%; Libertarian .80%; No Labels .45%; Green .08%.

The January 1 tally of election years determines the number of signatures needed for statewide independent candidates, .3% of the number of registered voters who are not in a qualified party.  We can now know that the 2024 independent requirement will be exactly 42,303.

No Labels registration is growing so rapidly, it seems very likely that it soon will have enough registrations to remain on the ballot into years beyond 2024.  To stay on the ballot a party needs registration of two-thirds of 1% of the state total.  Thanks to Eric Wong for the news about the new tally being released.