On March 9, the Governor of Arkansas signed HB 1509, just one day after it was sent to him by the legislature. It expands Instant-Runoff voting in primaries. Current law uses IRV for overseas military voters, and the bill expands that to civilians overseas.
The California Secretary of State has released new registration data. There won’t be any further California registration tallies until the late autumn of 2007. The new data shows some slip in Republican registration, and continuing gains for independent voters, compared to October 2006.
Republicans slipped from 34.33% of the state total, to 34.19%. Democrats gained slightly, from 42.48% to 42.52%. Independents went from 18.74% to 18.83%. All other parties went from 4.45% to 4.46%.
On March 12, the New York Supreme Court in Brooklyn invalidated an Independence Party state bylaw. That bylaw, passed on January 28, 2007, authorizes the state party to remove any party committee member (state or county) for any reason. The Court noted that state election law already provides that state parties may remove committee members for cause. The decision interprets that law to mean that political parties cannot remove committee members without cause.
The January 28, 2007 bylaw had been passed by those individuals in the Independence Party who have been trying for almost two years to expel allies of Lenora Fulani from the party. The New York city party officers are mostly allied with Fulani, and they are generally able to win elections to party office throughout New York city. The party faction that is opposed to Fulani is weak in New York city.
On March 21, both houses of the New York legislature passed bills to move the presidential primary from March to February 5. They are A6430 and S3544.
On March 21, the Georgia House passed HB 487. It moves the presidential primary from March to February 5.
The bill also changes the percentage of the vote needed in general elections to get elected (for Congressional elections and state office). Current Georgia law requires 50%; the bill lowers that to 45%. Georgia is the only state that requires congressional candidates to poll a specified percentage of the vote in the general election (a run-off between the top two is held if no one polls the required percentage in November).
