On March 26, the Oregon House Elections, Ethics & Rules Committee passed HB 2761, by a vote of 6-1. It allows Oregon local governments to use Instant-Runoff Voting. Thanks to Blair Bobier for this news.
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On March 27, the Iowa legislature passed HF399, which makes it possible for unregistered individuals to show up at the polls on election day and register on the spot. Iowa probably felt fairly comfortable taking this step, since its neighbor states Wisconsin and Minnesota have used this policy successfully for some time.
On March 27, the New Hampshire House passed SB 36, the bill to eliminate the straight-ticket device.
On March 27, HB2353 passed the Arkansas Senate State Agencies and Governmental Affairs Committee. It reduces the number of signatures for a new party to 10,000 signatures, but shrinks the number of days to collect the signatures from 150 days to 60 days. The Green Party has been asking legislators to vote against it, since even if the bill doesn’t pass, the requirement will be 10,000 (due to the winning lawsuit last year).
In a few days, Maine House Majority Leader Hannah Pingree will introduce a bill to legalize fusion (“fusion” means that two parties are permitted to jointly nominate the same candidate). Pingree comes from a prominent family; her mother, Chellie Pingree, was the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate from Maine in 2002, and was thereafter head of Common Cause.