Florida Bill for January 29 Primary Passes Senate Committee

Posted on by April 18, 2007
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On April 17, the Florida Senate Ethics & Elections Committee passed SB1010, to provide a presidential primary a week after the New Hampshire primary.

The Senate Committee amended the bill so that it includes funding to eliminate electronic vote-counting machines that don’t have a paper trail. The Senate and the Governor have been fighting to eliminate machines with no paper trail, and have been concerned that the House doesn’t support that goal. Since the House is adamantly in favor of the January 29 presidential primary, the combined bill is likely to achieve both objectives (the early primary and the elimination of paperless machines).

New Hampshire’s primary is currently set for January 22, but there are some hints that New Hampshire may move it to an even earlier date. Some Florida elections officials are worried that if the Florida bill passes, and then New Hampshire makes a last-minute decision to move its date, that Florida elections procedures aren’t flexible enough to cope with the sudden last-minute date change.

Ontario Historic Vote on Proportional Representation

Posted on by April 18, 2007
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When the voters of Ontario Province go to the polls on October 10 to elect a new provincial government, they will also be voting on whether to use Mixed Member Proportional Representation. This will be the first time Ontario voters have had a referendum since 1921. The measure needs a 60% “yes” vote to pass. Similar referenda on proportional representation achieved majority support recently in British Columbia and Prince Edward Island, but those referenda didn’t meet the 60% threshold.

Springfield, Illinois Voters Overwhelmingly Favor IRV for Overseas Absentees

Posted on by April 18, 2007
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On April 17, Springfield, Illinois held its city elections. Voters overwhelmingly approved a measure to use Instant-Runoff Voting for overseas absentees voters, in elections at which an old-fashioned run-off is normal. Over 90% of the voters voted for the idea. It is very rare for any ballot measure, on any subject, to poll over 90% “Yes”.

California Assembly Committee Passes Two IRV Bills and Public Funding Bill

Posted on by April 17, 2007
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On April 17, the California Assembly Elections Committee passed AB 1662, AB 1294, and AB 583. AB 1662 authorizes use of Instant-Runoff Voting for overseas voters (military and civilian), in any election for which a run-off is potentially required (such as many non-partisan elections, and also special congressional and legislative elections). AB 1294 lets any city or county use IRV or Choice Voting, for its own elections (currently, only charter cities and charter counties may use IRV).

AB 583 provides for public funding for candidates for state office. Independent candidates would need to raise twice as many qualifying $5 contributions, in order to receive public funding, compared to Democrats and Republicans. A witness pointed out that only eight independent candidates have appeared on the California ballot for regularly-scheduled state office in the last 27 years, and that in four of these instances, the independent candidate was elected. In another two instances, the independent placed 2nd but ahead of one of the major party nominees. However, this testimony seemed to make no difference; the bill passed without any amendment to ease the discrimination.